The appeal filed by the municipal council members of the entire opposition is now considered rejected, since the administrative department (Mr. Spyridon Kokkinakis) of the General Directorate of Internal Operations of the Decentralized Administration of Attica has not yet issued a ruling.
In November 2020, the opposition city council members had attacked the mayor of Kythira, Mr. Charhalakis accusing him of anti-democratic and anti-institutional actions. More specifically, they had reported that the mayor had abolished city council meetings and changed the body’s operating procedures.
The content of the appeal Kythera.News had revealed, on Tuesday, December 1, 2020. The opposition appealed to the Decentralized Administration, requesting the Revocation of the document dated September 28, 2020, and of Decision No. 77/2020, in which the President of the City Council provided information regarding Convening of the Board of Directors on October 2, 2020, via «teleconference», which the opposition considers «irregular» and outside the procedures prescribed by the Ministry of the Interior.
The administration has not reached a decision on the appeal, which means that is tacitly rejected, pursuant to the provisions of Article 227(5) of Law 358/2010 provided that he did not respond within two months.
Charchalakis's reaction
He immediately posted a statement on his personal Facebook account the mayor of Kythira, Mr. Efstratios Charchalakis who celebrated the rejection, insisting on the Defense of the teleconference via email. Question Mark but the because after that appeal, neither the president nor the mayor ever repeated the same procedure with the emails. Once again expressed support for the chairman of the board, Mr. Manolis Stathis and expanded allegations against Mr. Panagiotis Alevizopoulos, without naming him, and against the opposition’s stance regarding his inappropriate behavior in staying away from city council meetings from the day of his election until his resignation.
The following is the mayor's statement:
THE OPPOSITION'S APPEAL WAS REJECTED
By decision of the Coordinator of the Decentralized Administration of Attica, Mr. Spyridon Kokkinakis, the appeal filed on October 16, 2020, by all opposition municipal councilors in the Municipality of Kythira regarding the manner in which municipal council meetings are conducted was REJECTED. Specifically, the eight opposition municipal councilors sought the annulment of decisions made through real-time email exchanges, that is, via teleconference.
The Decentralized Administration did not review the appeal within the two-month period provided for by law, apparently because it was unfounded, and thus the appeal is deemed to have been REJECTED in accordance with Article 227(5) of Law 3852/2010.
For the record, we note that even today, dozens of local government bodies are holding meetings entirely legally via email due to the pandemic. Among them is the Finance Committee of the Attica Region—the country’s largest local government body—and no one has even considered requesting the annulment of the relevant decisions, not even the opposition councilors in these bodies, who normally participate in the proceedings even when meetings are conducted via email.
Those who rushed—with excessive confidence, whether elected officials or not—to publicly accuse the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Manolis Stathis—for a lack of respect for democratic procedures—owe him at least a public apology. Moreover, Mr. Stathis’s track record at the Municipality over the years leaves no room for doubting his commitment to democracy. A similar sensitivity should also be shown toward the only instance in the Municipality’s history of a municipal council member who did not attend a single City Council meeting after his swearing-in, despite the enormous effort he made to get elected, thereby essentially misleading the citizens. Let those who have ears, hear…
The municipal government continues its work uninterrupted, with the overwhelming majority of citizens standing behind it.
Have a great month!!!
