The Mayor of Kythera Mr. Efstratios Harhalakis met on 26/10/2023 with the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Mrs. Sofia Zacharaki.
The subject of the meeting was the major issue of the population shrinkage of the islands, which was also reflected in the recent census, with urbanization depriving the islands of a permanent and economically active population.
The Mayor of Kythera, in his capacity as President of the Islands and Cohesion Policy Committee of the KEDE, proposed to the Minister the holding of a special event at the end of January, in the presence of the political leadership of the relevant Ministries, the leadership of the KEDE and the Mayors of the islands, in order to lay the foundations for the adoption of a national policy to address population shrinkage in the island area, through the establishment of incentives that will contribute to the increase of the permanent population on the islands, an issue that has important social and national implications.
The Minister said that the Government has the issue very high on its agenda, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself expecting the relevant proposals in the coming months.
