Local authorities must adjust if they want to survive

The model followed by local authorities in Cyprus needs to adjust to the new conditions in order to survive, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday.

Addressing the 30th annual general meeting of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities in Nicosia, the president said the government’s aim was to modernise local authorities and make them more efficient, bearing in mind the impact of the financial crisis.

But the crisis could not be used as an excuse to avoid transferring powers to local administrations, Anastasiades said. He said a future decentralisation of powers would allow local authorities to take on new responsibilities.

Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said the government’s intention was to transform local administration into “a real partner, not a mere intermediary”. “Establishing a regional self-government is setting entirely new conditions for decentralised administration,” he said. Through such synergies, operational costs would be reduced and local authorities could become financially viable.

Union of Cyprus Municipalities President, and Famagusta Mayor Alexis Galanos, said local administration needed to be enhanced and the state apparatus needed reform.

He expressed readiness on the part of local authorities to press forward with the necessary changes but the financial independence of local authorities needed to be safeguarded, he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.