«Those who regurgitate miserable petty political quotes offer nothing. They only recall how much they harmed in their day the Local government», stresses the Deputy Minister of Interior, Stelios Petsas, in response to Members of Parliament SYRIZA on the sustainability of the local government funding programme, «Antonis Tritsis».
In particular, in a joint statement, the Costas Zacharias and Miltos Hatzigiannakis, Minister of the Interior and Deputy Minister of the Interior - responsible for local government, respectively, argue that the extension until 30 April is short and municipalities will not have time to submit a proposal for inclusion in the programme «for projects that they don't even know if they should be included, since the plan remains unknown and will be announced one day».
In his reply, Mr. Petsas states: «Those who were used to staying at zero and playing overtime all the time refuse to understand that we are now racing ahead. For us there is not a single day to lose when it comes to absorbing funds that improve the daily lives of citizens. With the signing of the loan agreement between the Deposits and Loans Fund and the European Investment Bank on 18 March, the Antonis Tritsis Programme is gaining new momentum. And it is accelerating, as through legislation we have provided for technical assistance to help mainly the smallest and weakest municipalities to prepare and implement mature development projects for the benefit of local communities.
The amendment of the Joint Ministerial Decision, which will establish a «ceiling», is in the process of being co-signed by the relevant ministers and will be issued in the coming days. It is noted that without a cap, the smallest municipalities and those with weaker technical services risked being left out of the Programme. And we are doing all this in close cooperation with the Municipalities and Regions and their institutions, KEDE and ENPE respectively. Those who regurgitate miserable petty political quotes offer nothing. They only remind us of how much they have damaged local government in their day. We are joining forces, cooperating with the Local Government and going forward to make the lives of citizens better», concludes the Deputy Minister of Interior.
