In a press release released, the municipal combination “Kythira, Antikythera-We Stay Here” speaks of «a new landscape in local government», as a result of the recent decision of the Council of State on the unconstitutionality of the provisions of the Theodorikakou laws. It calls on the mayor of Kythera and the chairman of the Board to refer recommendations for decisions to the Municipal Council and not to the Economic Committee, which, as stated in the press release, operates «with illegal composition and powers».
Read in detail the press release of the minority faction:
«At the meeting of our Municipal Finance Committee on 7/12 we submitted the following request compliance with the decision of the CoE on the unconstitutionality of the provisions of the Theodoricakos laws of summer 2019. The combined law altered the popular verdict and distorted the composition of the Finance Committees and Quality of Life Committees of the local authorities in favour of the Mayor's party and at the same time transferred serious powers, traditionally exercised by the Municipal Councils, to these committees, The CoE decision was published on 2.12.2022.
“Mr. President,
after the announcement of the decision of the plenary of the Council of State that annuls the unconstitutional provisions that altered the composition of elected bodies of local government and in view of issues of invalidity of decisions of the financial committee of our Municipality I ask you :
α) To forward the request of the Oik. (a) Send a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for immediate legislative alignment with the decision of the CoE without any pretexts and regressions.
b) Refer all conditional future decisions of the OC to the City Council for ratification and legalization until the existence of the legislative regulation I mentioned above. “
The majority partially accepted the request and decided to call for swift legislation and implementing instructions.
Our party underlines that the official announcement - summary of the CoE's decision (and not publications as Mr.Voridis claims) creates a new landscape in local government and is directly executed.
Consequently, with respect to the institutional framework and the constitutional order, we call upon the Mayor of Kythera and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, until the re-establishment of the Municipality's financial committee, in accordance with the will of the voters, as expressed in the 2019 local elections under the law n. 4555/2018, to refer recommendations for decision making to the City Council pending the regulations of the Ministry of Interior which only with the reinstatement of the provisions of CLIS I can restore legality. Until then we do not participate in the meetings of the Economic Committee. .
Having always in mind the proper functioning of our Municipality, we call on the Mayor not to proceed with the adoption of decisions by this body, which with its current composition suffers and there is a risk that its decisions will be annulled either on appeal or after a legality review.
The continued defense of the unconstitutional methods of Theodorikakos by the Mayor and the last meeting underlines his refusal to accept convergences that would improve the decisions of the Municipality for the benefit of the citizens, and have resulted in opacity, assignments to electoral patronage, and failures in the preparation of studies and implementation of projects. Possible insistence on the continued operation of the OC with illegal composition and powers, will result in invalid decisions for which the overall responsibility will be the Mayor and his faction.
Fortunately this time had knowledge of the guards ... (the decision of the Council of State is attached).
The councillors
George Didymiotis
Manos Trifyllis»
Chrysoula Facea
A summary of the CoE's decision is attached to the announcement:
«CoE Vol. 2377/2022: Provisions changing the composition of the financial committee and quality of life committee of municipalities are in accordance with the Constitution. But not to the extent that they occupy the period immediately following the elections.
02/12/2022
CoE Oloem. 2377/2022
President:D. Skaltsounis, President of the CoE
Presenter: Β. B. Androulakis, State Councillor
Provisions altering the composition of the municipal finance committee and quality of life committee are in accordance with the Constitution. They are not, however, to the extent that they occupy the period immediately following the election.
By decision 2377/2022 of the Plenary Session it was held that the provisions of Laws No. 4623/2019 and 4625/2019, which introduced changes in the way the financial committee and the quality of life committee of municipalities, as well as the boards of municipal legal entities (D.E.Y.A. etc.), in order for these bodies to have a majority of the mayor's party, a) insofar as they do not cover the municipal period immediately following the elections of 26 May 2019 and 2 June 2019, are not contrary to any constitutional or supra-legislative provision or principle, and b) insofar as they cover the municipal period after the elections of 26 May and 2 June 2019, the legislature intervened, immediately after the elections, in the operation of the O.IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF THE ELECTIONS, THE LEGISLATURE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ELECTION, IN THE PERIOD OF THE ELECTIONS, THE LEGISLATORS DECIDED TO APPLY THE LAW TO THE OPERATION OF THE MUNICIPALITIES. Firstly, by making two basic changes to the existing system, which are interrelated: on the one hand, it changed the way in which the Economic Committee and the Quality of Life Committee are constituted, in order to ensure that the majority in these committees belongs to the party with which the Mayor was elected; on the other hand, it transferred powers from the municipal council to the Economic Committee, to which decision-making powers of a significant financial nature were transferred, and to the Quality of Life Committee, to which decision-making powers of a significant financial nature were transferred; on the other hand, it transferred powers from the municipal council to the Economic Committee, to which decision-making powers of a significant financial nature were transferred, and to the Quality of Life Committee, to which decision-making powers of a significant financial nature were transferred. Those provisions, in so far as they cover the period immediately following the municipal elections, have retroactively altered the framework for the exercise of the right to elect the authorities of the local authorities guaranteed by the Constitution.- and that is because the will expressed by the voters was shaped by taking into account, inter alia, the fact that, in accordance with the legislation in force at the time of those elections, decisions concerning important powers of the municipality, such as those referred to above and concerning matters which are primarily related to the right to vote guaranteed by Article 102 para. 2 of the Constitution, will be taken by the municipal council, the governing body of the municipality with direct democratic legitimacy, possibly requiring broader consensus to achieve a majority and by councillors who were not elected with the combination of the Mayor. Moreover, at the time of the adoption of the relevant provisions, the application of the system of simple proportional representation introduced by Law No. 4555/2018 in the administration of municipalities, in order to be justified by imperative reasons of public interest, relating to the smooth operation of these, the so serious and intense intervention of the legislature in the will of the voters, with the application of the disputed regulations and during the current municipal period. For those reasons, the abovementioned provisions, in so far as they cover the municipal period after the elections, are contrary to the provisions of Article 5(5)(a) of the Constitution and Article 5(1)(b) of the Constitution. 1, 52 and 102 par. 2 of the Constitution. On the contrary, the provisions concerning the election of members of the boards of directors of municipal legal entities (D.E.Y.A. etc.) do not conflict with these provisions of the Constitution, since these organisational changes are not combined with a transfer of powers from the direct administrative bodies of the municipality to the respective collective bodies of these legal entities. Two minorities were expressed: According to the first, the above provisions are unconstitutional in their entirety in so far as they cover the period immediately following the election. According to the second, these provisions do not conflict with any constitutional provision.’
