The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, described the implementation of the Local Government reform as necessary, speaking on Monday at the General Assembly of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities in Nicosia, noting that any corrective measures will be examined through dialogue with all parties involved.
In his address, the President of the Republic particularly welcomed “the achievement of a final agreement on the sensitive issue of the 40% limit, which affects not only the functioning of the municipalities themselves but also their employees, in a way that gives appropriate weight to the developmental role of the municipalities.”
Regarding the percentage of state subsidies to municipalities, President Christodoulides recalled that this is determined “by the relevant legislation to pound 117 million, which was also agreed with the Union of Municipalities.” We fully understand, he continued, “the challenge and, of course, we will discuss it so that we can achieve the result we all want and avoid the fragmentation that exists in relation to subsidies.”
As the President of the Republic said, ” having reached almost a year and a half of implementation of the new legislative framework in the municipalities, we find, without a doubt, that the reform was necessary and that the new operating framework clearly constitutes a healthier and more modern basis for the operation of local authorities’.
He added that “of course, the new municipalities are still in their early stages after the mergers and all the processes that have taken place in this direction, and they need to be given even more time to be able to achieve better results, which will also be felt by the citizens.”
The President of the Republic said that “along with the mergers, our intention is to review the Deputy Mayor institution, for which corrective measures have already been taken on the initiative of the Government to clarify the duties for the current term of office, which were approved by the House of Representatives.”
He noted that “there remains, however, a need for a more comprehensive and functional arrangement before the next term of local authorities, although in general I believe we all agree that it is necessary to proceed with the correction and revision of those plans – and this is not a criticism – which, based on evaluation, did not produce the expected results, and to give municipalities the tools they need to operate even more efficiently.”
In his own address, Minister of the Interior Constantinos Ioannou said that “16 months after the start of the reform, and while issues that require handling remain pending, the central government, the parliament, and local authorities are in the process of evaluating the progress of this major undertaking, based on real data recorded through the practical implementation of the change and ongoing dialogue with all local government bodies.”
As the Minister of the Interior stated, “through these observations, we have promoted, before and after the start of the reform, two amendment strands, with the aim of regulating legislative distortions that we identified from the outset, in order to take all the necessary improvement measures to make local authorities more functional and efficient, for the benefit of society.”
Ioannou also expressed his concern about the long-term sustainability of some of the municipalities, ‘as the fact that the mergers did not take into account objective criteria such as population, geographical area, the financial data of the municipalities, and other parameters, creates local authorities of different speeds.”
In this context, he continued, “the Government’s intention is to conduct an extensive evaluation and review those cases where there is a real weakness, in consultation with the Union of Municipalities and the political parties.”
Regarding municipal finances, the Minister of the Interior said that “although the subsidy to municipalities has increased by pound 45 million compared to the amount they received before the reform, the Government shares the municipalities’ concern about the impact that the pound 117 million reduction in purchasing power will have on municipal development at the end of the year.”
He noted that “judging the request to be fair, the Ministries of the Interior and Finance, together with the Union of Municipalities, will proceed in the coming period, as we have agreed, to develop a formula for calculating state subsidies, so that the amount can be adjusted at regular intervals to be determined by legislative amendment.”
Regarding the issue of deputy mayors, Ioannou said that “following proposals and discussions with the deputy mayors themselves, the recent amendment package approved by the House of Representatives last summer included specific non-executive powers, in addition to those that each Mayor may delegate.”
For his part, the President of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, Mayor of Larnaca, Andreas Vyras, said that the Union “is working feverishly to host the European Committee of the Regions’ Bureau meeting on February 9 and 10, 2026, as part of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU.
He also referred to the decision of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities “to hold a series of extended meetings in all provinces to review the progress made to date in implementing local government reform.”