About the activity

The Peer Review on Distribution of Competences between the State and Local Authorities of both tiers was implemented in Greece by the Centre of Expertise with the support of the Institute of Local Administration.

The main deliverable of this activity is this Peer Review Policy Advice addressed to the Hellenic Ministry of Interior to propose possible ways forward to consolidate the Kallikratis Reform in line with Council of Europe standards. Indeed, this exercise specifically drawn on the Report on “Local and regional democracy in Greece” adopted by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in March 2015.

 Methodology

The Peer Review as a tool facilitates the exchange of experiences and practices among countries. In the framework of this specific project, this implied the organisation of a number of meetings which took place from 28 November to 1 December 2016 in Athens. Greek stakeholders, including senior officials from the Ministry of Interior and local elected representatives, shared experiences with peers from other Council of Europe member states which undertook recent decentralisation and territorial administration reforms.

Discussions addressed challenges faced by Regions, central Government as well as different type of municipalities (small, bigger, mountainous and insular municipalities). Findings are organised around four main themes:

1. Framework for competences distribution

2. Generation and allocation of resources

3. Governance arrangements

4. Political economy of reforms

 Acknowledgements

The Greek participants well understood and appreciated the spirit of the review and contributed with highly-qualified insights on the current Greek context.

The Centre of Expertise would like to thank all parties involved in the activity for their fundamental contribution to this extensive analysis.