Greece-10 07 2012 Final
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- 1 - GREECE General Box Greece is a parliamentary republic under the 1975 Constitution. The Parliament ( Vouli ton Ellinon ) is unicameral and consists of 300 members. The Head of State is the President of the Republic and the Government is led by a Prime Minister. The Hellenic Republic is a unitary State organised on a decentralised basis; it comprises two levels of governance, the central – state governance and the local self-government. The former is exercised centrally (government-ministries) as well as at a decentralised level (Decentralized Administration- apokentromeni dioikisi), while the latter is exercised at regional (Regions - Perifereies )and municipal level (Municipalities - Dimoi ) It used to be much more centralised but over the last decades it has been undergoing reforms which ended up with the adoption of an extensive administrative reform in 2010 called “Kallikratis”. The decentralisation process started in 1986 with the creation of 13 Regions. Decentralisation was strengthened in 1994 with elected prefectural bodies and the extension of the municipalities’ competences. In 1997, through mergings the “Kapodistrias Program” changed the administrative boundaries of first-level self-government authorities (dimoi&koinotites ) reducing them to 1034 without even changing their previous institutional status. The Code for Municipalities and Communities in 2006 constituted the main legislative text for their function. The 2010 Kallikratis Program 1 reorganised the territorial division by uniting existing municipalities, modified the vertical division of competences in favour of municipalities and abolished decentralised public administrations. Finally, the Hellenic Republic has recently adopted the Law 4071/2012 “Provisions for local development, local government and decentralised administration – Transposition of Directive 2009/50/EC” 2, which focuses mainly on special issues of local authorities. Since 1 January 2011, when the Kallikratis Program entered officially into force, the Hellenic Republic has comprised seven Decentralised Administrations ( apokentromeni dioikisi), thirteen Regions ( perifereies ) and 325 Municipalities ( dimoi ). The Decentralised Administrations constitute single units of State (decentralized state) and their heads are appointed by the central Government. They exercise general decisive responsibility on state matters in accordance with Article 101 of the Constitution. The Municipalities and Regions constitute the first and second-level of local self-government The former Prefectures ( nomarchies ) largely still exist, but are now called Regional Units ( Perifereiakes Enotites ) and form administrative and territorial constituent parts of the Regions. The Community of Mount Athos Monasteries is an autonomous territory with special status ( Ieri Kinotita ) under the Constitution and special arrangements as to the application of EU law to this territory exist. The principles of decentralisation and local self-government are enshrined in the Constitution 3. The local and regional self-government authorities are the expression of popular sovereignty and constitute a fundamental institution in the public life of the Greeks, as guaranteed by the provisions of Article 102 of the Constitution and the European Charter of Local Self-Government ratified by Law 1850/1989 (GG 144 A) taking account of the reservations expressed on articles 5, 7 (§2), 8 (§2) and 10 (§10). Regions are responsible for the administration of affairs of their district. They shape, plan and implement policies at regional level as part of their Framework Contract No. CDR/ETU/106/2009, Order Form 3463 - 2 - responsibilities under the principles of sustainable development and social cohesion of the country, taking into account of national and European policies. Municipalities are responsible for the administration of local affairs. They manage and regulate all local matters in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proximity with the aim of protection, development and continuous improvement of the interests and the quality of life of local society. There is no hierarchical control and relationship between the Regions and the Municipalities. The Kallikratis Program 4 further describes the territorial organisation and the division of powers between the different levels of governance. In accordance with the study on ‘The Rise of Regional Authority: A comparative study of 42 democracies’ 5, the degree of sub-state autonomy of Greece is: - 8.0 out of 24.0 for the Nomoi , - 2.0 out of 24.0 for the Periphereies 6. In 2005, sub-national governments’ revenues were derived mainly from grants. Sub-national expenditure represents 3.1% of the GDP and 6.6% of the total public expenditure. The Municipalities’ revenue was composed of 68.5% of autonomous taxation, 21.6% of grants and 9.9% of others. The Counties and Regions’ revenue was composed of 69.7% of autonomous taxation, 24% of grants and 6.3% of others. 7 Since the adoption of the Kallikratis Law, both Municipalities and Regions should have autonomous central resources calculated on certain percentages of income tax, VAT, and property tax 8. National level 9 Regional level 10 Municipal level 11 State responsibilities Regions' exercise their responsibilities/ Municipalities' exercise their competences within the framework of the powers/responsibilities according to the • General powers in matters coming relevant laws and administrative regulations, in relevant legislation, regulations and under national sovereignty, particularly the fields of: management regulations adopted by them in the areas of national defence, (local regulatory decisions) in the fields of: foreign affairs, finance and justice; • Planning/Programming and regional • Development, • General national policy; development including investment; • Building permits and urban planning • Coordination and direction of the • Agriculture/livestock and fisheries; applications; Government’s activities; • Natural resources, energy and • Environment; • Coordination and direction of the civil industry; (water management, mineral • Quality of Life& Cities’ proper service; and wealth, energy, industry and Functioning • Implementation of national policies. manufacturing) • Employment; • Employment, -tradeand tourism; • Social protection and solidarity; • Transport and communications; • Education, culture and sport; Framework Contract No. CDR/ETU/106/2009, Order Form 3463 - 3 - • Public works, urbanism, spatial • Agricultural Development, livestock planning, environment; and fisheries; • Health; • Civil protection • Education, culture and sport • Issuing professional licenses; • Civil protection – Logistics • Transport infrastructure; • ;Local development initiatives; and In order to address supra-local problems in a • Tourism. uniform way, the metropolitan region of Attiki With a view to providing better services, and the metropolitan unit of Thessaloniki municipalities may also exercise state (Region of Central Macedonia), in addition to responsibilities at local level which have been their regional responsibilities, may exercise assigned to them by law. metropolitan responsibilities in the following areas: It should be underlined that insular as well as - Environment and Quality of Life mountain municipalities undertake additional - Spatial Planning and Urban responsibilities otherwise exercised by the Regeneration regions to better serve the local population in - Transports and Communications accordance with the subsidiatity principle. - Civil protection and Security beyond . the municipal administrative boundaries. Municipal authorities exercise their powers taking into account 12 : • Related national, regional and European policies; • The need for coordination with other local or public authorities which have Regions exercise their powers taking into the power to act and own resources in account: their region; • The availability of resources and their o The relevant national, regional and beneficial, efficient use and equitable European policies distribution; o The need for cooperation and • The need to organise adequate, coordination with other regional qualified and efficient services in order authorities and organizations to better serve residents; and o The available resources to meet their • The need for high quality responsibilities, and the need to environmental protection, protection of ensure their beneficial, efficient use cultural heritage and the promotion of and equitable distribution Framework Contract No. CDR/ETU/106/2009, Order Form 3463 - 4 - o The need for organizing services to sustainable development of these ensure their adequacy, quality and areas. effectiveness o The need for sustainable development and protection of the cultural heritage Systems of multilevel governance Representation : The Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) 13 and the Union of Greek Regions ( ΕΝΠΕ /ENPE) 14 are legal entities of public law that represent local and regional interests respectively before the central government and are supervised by the Minister of Interior. Information and consultation : During the legislative process, information is provided to the local and regional authorities to the extent that information is published on the Parliament’s website. The central authorities consult local and regional authorities on measures concerning environmental protection, spatial planning projects. Moreover, local and regional representatives may be invited to participate in parliamentary sessions. 15 Coordination