Athens News Agency: News in English, 10-01-18

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM: Kallikratis plan an essential reform

[01] PM: Kallikratis plan an essential reform

"Today, 100 days after the elections, we are in a position to proceed based on the Kallikratis plan, which will carry out all the major changes that the country's administrative system needs and all the necessary reforms for a new start that local government needs," he said while addressing the annual meeting of the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece (KEDKE).

According to the Greek premier, the Kallikratis plan was an essential part the Stability, Development and Reconstruction Programme and its success was a "goal of national importance that requires the contribution of all".

Describing the proposed changes as "greatly delayed", Papandreou said they would finally allow Greece to throw off the mantle of the European Union's most centralised state, bringing about long-awaited changes to local government while radically changing the operation of central government at the same time.

He underlined that the changes were urgent, in order to free up human and other resources that were currently being wasted so that they might be more creatively invested, adding that they might be painful but also liberating.

The premier emphasised that ordinary Greek men and women were tired of inertia and wanted to see their elected officials take action to bring about change.

"The starting point and root of the economic, political and institutional crisis the country is experiencing lies in the way that the state operates," he added with emphasis.

According to Papandreou, the Kallikratis plan would result in a new administrative architecture for local authorities that would be simple, functional and stable, leading to powerful and efficient municipalities armed with new powers and resources, and self-administrating regions with important responsibilities, such as handling the regional programmes of the National Strategic Reference Framework.

With local authorities taking charge of their own responsibilities, central government could then fulfill its own role as the executive branch of the state, he added.

The prime minister promised that the new municipal and regional authorities created on January 1, 2011 would be able to operate in a regime of guaranteed meritocracy, transparency and accountability, having as an additional resource the participation of ethnic Greeks and legal migrants that lived in harmony with Greek society and contributed to the progress of the country and local communities.

This, he added, would ensure social peace, social cohesion and give impetus to local developmental and regional prospects.

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