MP Kostas Pavlidis: Government is determined to break Corfu Municipality up into smaller municipalities

It is said that there is no smoke without fire and this could well apply in the case of the possible division of Corfu into smaller municipalities. According to Corfu MP Kostas Pavlidis, at least, the government has declared its intention to adjust local authority boundaries “in some cases - such as large islands and difficult mountain regions”. At least four island municipalities are being discussed – Corfu, Cephaloni, Mytilini and Rhodes – as well as mountain regions such as Grevena.

The argument is that there have been problems with the present model over the eight years in which the ‘Kalikratis’ local authorities programme has been in force. It is estimated that with these boundary changes the number of local authorities will increase by about 15. In other words, we’re not talking about huge changes – it will be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

However, this will not be part of the ‘Cleisthenes’ programme (new local authorities legislation).  The Ministry of the Interior does not wish to confuse the new institutional reforms being put forward with boundary reforms. This is why the Minister Panos Skourletis didn’t mention it at the recent ENAE-KEDE conference. An indication of the concern that exists can be seen in the aversion to the subject expressed by Mr. Poulakis, General Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, in his speech at the development conference in Rhodes.

Mr. Pavlidis believes that discussions on the subject can begin in October 2018 to provide enough time for decisions to be made and the new system to be established before local elections in October 2019. As regards Corfu, there are two or three possible options – the island could be divided into three, four or even five separate local authorities. Corfu Town is considered certain to be one of these and there is also talk, for national reasons, of the Diapontia Islands being upgraded to become a separate administrative unit.

At this time, it is not yet known how the discussion will proceed – in other words, how it will be presented and how long it will last.