The October 2020 ο Dimitris Margetis was elected with... Stalinist percentages «Ombudsman of the Citizen and Enterprise» in the municipality of Alimos. But instead of acting as a mediator between citizens and the municipality for problems that arose between the two sides, he «changed» tasks and helped the financial service in collecting overdue debts, while in the summer he distributed... municipal cards to citizens on the beach of Alimos.
«I decided to resign because the institution was not supported at all. I was assigned various other clerical jobs while I was there and I was not serving the duties of the institution,» he told ethnos.gr o economist who after his unfortunate experience, returned to his organic position in the Ministry of Finance. After his resignation, the municipality of Alimos did not re-enter the process of electing a new Co-Preservationist.
In Naoussa the Citizen's Ombudsman two years after his election he still does not have... office as the municipality has not granted him due to... space constraints and pandemic and as a result he is housed in a private office.
In Oraiokastro Thessaloniki the municipality managed to elect a Co-Preservationist in the pandemic through electronic voting. However, the election was deemed illegal by the Decentralized Administration and the procedure was cancelled as electronic voting had not yet been institutionalized and until then it was foreseen to elect him by secret ballot and not by... secret electronic voting. After the «wrecked» election the municipality of Oraiokastro did not attempt again to... elect.
It was an eventful co-habitation of Citizen's Advocate in Thessaloniki with former mayor Yannis Boutaris. Although the latter insisted on making use of the institution, holding 4 successive votes until he was elected, in the course of time coexistence proved difficult. The result was the temporary removal of the Citizen's Ombudsman from the town hall to an office in another municipal building, causing the intervention of the Network of Citizen's Advocates, which in a statement then referred to the transfer «to an old building of the Municipal Police, which is completely unprepared to welcome citizens».
Without a Co-advocate the largest municipality and region of the country
These are indicative stories of Co-Presidents who managed to get elected and record the difficulties of the institution to «walk» in the local government. Overall in the current self-governing 39 Co-Presidents serving for the 2019-2024 term of office from the total of 150 municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants that they are obliged to elect. At the same time, they have just served 6 Regional Co-Preservationists from the 13 Regions of the country. Most municipalities over 20,000 inhabitants and Regions did not even enter the process of electing a Citizen's Ombudsman, although they are required by law to at least initiate the procedures even if they become ineffective in the end. Among them is both the largest municipality in the country, the municipality of Athens, and the largest Region of the Territory, the Region of Attica, which have not elected a Co-Paramilitary Ombudsman.
George Kaminis: The mayors do not want the institution
As explained by George Kaminis, one of the first elected officials who believed in and supported the institution the mayors don't want him while the secrecy of the vote makes the possibility of eligibility even more difficult. «The basic problem is that the mayors don't want him and the proof is that they don't start the process of electing a Co-Paramara because there are few mayors who have the open mind to tell you that ‘we will have one here who will tell us the mistakes we make, so that citizens can appeal, see our weaknesses and see what they can do to correct them’. That's the logic of the institution: the citizen should have an institution to which they can appeal, but the municipality should also have someone who takes the complaints of the citizens, who has a basic scientific competence and political neutrality in order to be able to point out to the municipality where it is doing wrong and to correct things.».
Secret ballot makes the election of Co-Presidents more difficult
On the other hand, as the Member of Parliament of Kinal and former mayor of Athens when the legislature requires a broad majority (3/5 of the House) to elect the Co-Preservationist and sets it because it wants to have a broad basis for election, it makes it even more difficult to be elected. «And it's made even more difficult by the secrecy of the vote because there are various councillors over there who don't want to do the mayor's bidding or the mayor doesn't support their own candidate, the former don't follow the mayor's view and vote white, invalid or vote for someone who is ruled out. So they express their dissatisfaction with the mayor through their vote without revealing themselves.».
President KEDE: Mayors in many cases can not gather an increased majority to elect a Co-Parliamentarian
The official position of the KEDE is the preservation and modernization of the institution. According to President of the KEDE and Mayor of Trikkaion Dimitris Papastergiou the election of Co-Councillors did not «go through» because of the majority that mayors are required to have and when they do have it, it is often not increased as required by law. «On the other hand, I am not sure if it was so necessary as an institution. A lot of times we have to look to find out what the problem is that we're trying to solve.
Surely the municipalities that knew they didn't have majorities didn't want to waste their time. Secondarily, perhaps, it didn't occur to them as a necessity. We need to take the issue from the top and look at the competency conversation. Why the institution was set up to help the citizen where he could not find a solution with the services of the municipality. Right now we have other problems to solve and help the citizens. I would see the Ombudsman in the context of the discussion that needs to be opened up in conjunction with the framework of competences, not in isolation. Otherwise I would be doing justice to all the problems we have in front of us,» he told ethnos.gr Dimitris Papastergiou.
However, apart from the increased majority required for the election The President of the Institutions and Transparency Committee of the KEDE, Mayor of Vari, Voula Vouliagmeni Gregory Konstantellos He believes that there is also a fear that municipalities have that if there is a spirited Ombudsman, it may cause problems for the administration or expose it in the annual report that it is required to publish.
It should be noted that the election of the Co-Preservationist, initially, required the approval of 2/3 of the House and after an amendment to the law, it was reduced to 3/5. However, even municipalities that have the required majority do not proceed with the election. In his first term of office, the municipality of Vari, Voula Vouliagmeni Gregory Konstantellos had elected a Citizen's Co-Paramilitary, nominating a person from another party. In the current term, although he has 25 out of a total of 33 councillors, he was not elected. «I could have appointed a Citizen's Co-Parliamentarian on my own but I didn't because now because I could do it on my own there would be an intra-party squabble over who it would be. The administration has 26 of the 33 councillors. But there are another 80 councillors who have not been elected....In any case, our administration is not authoritarian.».
Philippos Triomatis (President of the Panhellenic Network of Co-Preservationists):60% with 70% of the citizens' requests after the mediation of the Co-Preservationists
According to Philip Triomatis President of the Panhellenic Network of Co-Custodians and Regional Ombudsman and the South Aegean Region Enterprise, over 60-70% of citizens« requests are resolved after mediation. However, there were also cases where the service ignored even the intervention of the Ombudsman himself. »With legislative intervention, this is a serious official breach of duty and thus the phenomenon of cumbersome services that were a hindrance to the operation of citizens and businesses are beginning to adapt to the new digital era," he observed, stressing that:
«The total of 45 Co-Preservationists is a sufficient number if we take into account that only large municipalities with a population of over 20,000 inhabitants are entitled to elect a Co-Preservationist, but mainly the fact that the collective bodies of the local authorities, i.e. Municipal and Regional Councils, from the first six months of taking office, operate in pandemic conditions, mainly through teleconferencing and by rotation. There was therefore no possibility of the secret ballot which requires the presence of elected officials and the thorough presentation and examination of candidatures.
Konstantinos Zervas: We had the political will and institutional maturity to elect a Co-Preservationist
One of the municipalities that gave a vote of confidence to the institution of the Co-Preservationist and operating in recent years is the municipality of Thessaloniki. As the Mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Zervas to ethnos.gr his mediating role and his gentle intervention have helped the services to deal with the issues at stake in a meaningful way, beyond bureaucratic considerations. «It contributes to ensuring the impartiality of municipal authorities and ultimately to improving service to citizens and businesses. A guarantor and protector of the rights of the citizen and the business, it effectively contributes, through its suggestions and recommendations, to improving the way the administration works. The neutrality and discretion that characterise its actions make the institution particularly useful. This has been the approach from day one of our mandate and for this Municipal Council of Thessaloniki showed particular sensitivity. Despite the fact that the nomination of the Co-Preservationist required an increased majority from a body fragmented due to the simple proportional representation, the our political will and institutional maturity led to the emergence of a renowned and hard-working lawyer as the Ombudsman, unlike many municipalities in the country that have not managed to do so.».
Marios Kargiotis (Citizen's Advocate in the municipality of Thessaloniki): the pandemic has changed the demands of citizens
More than 200 cases managed in 2021 (160 in 2020) the Marios Kargiotis, Ombudsman in the municipality of Thessaloniki, despite the fact that from last July until October the institution could not accept requests due to the hacking of the municipality. Of these, 54 remained unanswered, 26 were unavailable to the Ombudsman and the remaining 120 were resolved.
In total, only 30% of the complaints were made to the services by citizens and were not listened to, while in the remaining cases they directly requested the assistance of the Ombudsman. In the first year that Mr. Kargiotis most of the requests it managed due to pandemichad to do with solidarity and the activation of the «Help at Home» service. Since September 2020, the issues of everyday life of citizens (urban planning issues, cleaning, complaints about reduced parking spaces for residents in the centre, bad behaviour of municipal police officers, etc.) Complaints are made either by telephone, electronically or in person.
«The majority of the problems of the citizens are related to the functioning of the services. So while we started with majority of complaints about cleaning, collection, bulky issues, these slowly ceased to be a concern for the city. We had many issues with the municipal police as well as many complaints about the “Thesis” parking system from residents,» Kargiotis explained.
The Citizen's Advocate could not even come to an agreement with the services of the Municipality
But there were also cases when even the same person Citizen's Advocate could not get along with City departments. The first case concerns the controlled parking system in the municipality of Thessaloniki. It is stipulated in the CCC that if the car is leased and parked illegally the plates are not removed but the fine is doubled. This was introduced with the rationale that car rental companies should not be deprived of the cars that are their main business. The law, however, makes no distinction for short-term or long-term hire. «The Municipal Police are misapplying the law in my view as they double the fine where they find illegally parked leased cars in controlled parking spaces. The department has not accepted my view and we are awaiting the decision of the Ombudsman» he said. Kargiotis.
The municipality is seeking surcharges for debts of a citizen who was never informed
The second case concerned notification of decisions of the municipal services. The municipality of Thessaloniki was sending to an old address of a citizen the fees for the cemeteries of a relative, but they never reached him. The resident had moved, and informed the municipal services in writing of the change of address. So when he had to pay his TAP, the municipality informed him that there was also a debt for the cemeteries which he had never been notified of, including the surcharges. «As the Co-Preservationist, we felt that the surcharges should be written off since the municipality had been informed of the change of address in a timely manner, a claim the department did not accept.».
Demosthenes Taoulas-Supporter in Naoussa: There is a spirit of compromise between citizens and the municipality in solving the problems
In Naoussa, the number of cases in which the Ombudsman has been called to mediate is reduced due to the pandemic and reaches 20-25 per year. They concern mainly urban planning and licensing issues. «The municipality of Naoussa is a small municipality and the cases are limited also because of the fact that we are basically a provincial town and we know each other. And most problems are solved with a spirit of compromise and in a spirit of understanding. It has not happened to me to reach extremes both with the departments and with the citizens,» he told ethnos.gr Demosthenes Taoulas, Co-Preservationist in the Municipality of Naoussa.
Christos Panou-Supporter in Ioannina: Wherever the institution was built, it walks and performs
One of the oldest Co-Preservationists is Christos Panou, in Ioannina having already entered his second term. As he observes, over the years, the majority of municipal leaders have not taken care to activate and support the institution. «But where it was built, it walks and performs. In Giannina the municipality uses the institution in an exemplary manner». In total, he has handled more than 500 cases, most of which involved overlapping responsibilities of departments for small projects related to the daily life of citizens (e.g. construction of a ramp, handrail, etc.) and non-implementation of decisions of the city council.
Characteristic was the decision on road marking at the entrance to the city by the city council. A year and a half after the unanimous decision by the House, it had not been implemented. After being harassed by citizens, he mediated, stressing to city agencies that it is illegal to delay and will file the file with the District Attorney. When the issue was raised with him by citizens he asked the departments and the technical department. One was blaming the other. That a striping needs a bid, it is a special technical project and needs equipment, special machinery, etc. His term of office ended, he left the municipality and shortly afterwards a pedestrian was injured in that spot. As soon as the new city council was elected, he did it immediately.
What the Co-Preservationists are asking for
As Mr. Triomate in all Regions and in municipalities of more than fifty thousand inhabitants, as well as in island municipalities of more than twenty thousand, there should be a mandatory independent department of the ‘Ombudsman of the Citizen and Business", which should be staffed by the relevant OTA under the responsibility of the Ombudsman, providing secretarial and scientific support. At the same time, the Ombudsmen ask for specific proposals for improving the services they provide, to be introduced as a mandatory item for discussion at the Municipal / Regional Council under the responsibility of the President.
The financial issue - They are also taking money from their own pockets
According to Mr. The 700 to 800 euros net that the Co-Preservationists receive is the most serious obstacle to the continued involvement of persons with prestige and a remarkable professional career with the institution. «In many cases we neglect our core professional activities when we are forced in large municipalities and regions to devote countless man-hours and especially if we have to move between regional units we often finance what we do after receiving little after months. And there is the phenomenal situation where we receive almost 50% of our assigned official (where this has happened) and work double the hours even after hours. Our proposal is to abolish the correspondence in salary between the Co-Preservationist and the President (Municipal or Regional) Council, and to match either a) that of the Deputy Mayor / Deputy Mayor, b) or that of the C. Secretary of the Municipality / District, or finally c) with the Head of the General Department».
