Today the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities adopted a report on Cyprus application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and concluding that shortcomings persists since its previous report in 2016.
The principle of self-government remains unrecognised, either in the Constitution or in applicable laws. The Republic of Cyprus is still a “very centralised country”, the report ascertains.
Furthermore, current monitoring points out that the sphere of responsibility of local authorities remains limited when compared with common European standards. The report stresses that financial needs for local authorities depend too much on State transfers and grants, and that the principles of “adequacy and commensurability” of local finances – that local authorities be adequately financed to match their tasks and functions – are largely ignored in the current legal scheme. Similarly, the current system lacks appropriate financial “equalisation mechanisms”, which would allow to allocate additional resources to disadvantaged communities.
Indeed, Finance Ministry officials interviewed for this report concede that “many” Cypriot local authorities (especially smaller communities) cannot meet the needs of the population, and they face “considerable financial problems”. In summary, they recognised the lack of financial autonomy for local authorities. This is generally true for municipalities (although there might be specific differences between regular ones and the “big five”), but the picture is worse for communities.
On the other hand, the Congress appreciates a “frank will” from national authorities to react adequately to its recommendations, based on interviews with government officials to prepare this report.
Indeed, the government has worked out a “comprehensive reform of local government”, according to the report. At the time of the monitoring mission, three legislative projects had been submitted to the house of representatives and were under parliamentary discussions. Unfortunately, these bills could not be approved during the present parliamentary term, but they are expected to be eventually approved by the new parliament resulting from the May 2021 general election.
If eventually approved, this reform should increase local self-government and enhance the governance of local authorities. A radical reorganisation of the local government structures is also envisaged, through the compulsory mergers of all existing municipalities, reducing their number roughly by half. Many communities are also included in this operation.
The planned reform also would significantly increase the competences and responsibilities of the Cypriot local authorities, as well as their financial basis. Moreover, if approved, several checks over local authorities, discharged so far by central government ministries, would be removed.
Recommendations from the monitoring report include the following:
- Introduce and recognise the principle of local self-government in the applicable laws governing the municipalities and the communities.
- Entrench municipal tasks in the law and clarify the distribution of municipal competences that should be increased, by revising relevant sectorial legislation, in particular on matters such as urban development planning or social services.
- Expand municipal taxing capacity by increasing the share of resources coming from local taxes. This would strengthen the financial autonomy of the municipalities and reduce dependency on transfers provided by the central government.
- Enshrine in the law the principle of adequacy of the local finances, so as to ensure that they are at any moment commensurate with the local responsibilities provided for by the law and set up the necessary legal rules or institutional mechanisms to ensure that there is a connection between the financial means of local authorities and their competences.
- Establish an efficient financial equalisation system, aiming at the protection of financially weaker local authorities, and based on a formula that provides transparent and clear criteria.
- Eliminate as far as possible prior administrative controls from central government over local authorities, especially on matters related with the management of their human resources, the approval of their budgets or the management of their own assets and properties.
- Strengthen the capacity of local governments to manage, organise and plan their own human resources by allowing local authorities to regulate in their own discretion the conditions of service of their own employees (within the limits of the law), without prior approval by the Council of Ministers of their regulations in that domain.
Cyprus Minister of the Interior, Nicos Nouris, has made a statement today at the session of the Congress where the report and the recommendation were debated and voted.
Cyprus ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1988. Countries that have ratified the Charter are bound by its provisions. The Charter demands the implementation of a minimum set of rights which constitute the core basis for local self-government in Europe. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe ensures that these principles are respected in the 47 member States of the Council of Europe.
Media contact: Tatiana Baeva, Spokesperson/Media Officer, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93
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