Today the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities adopted a report on Cyprus application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and concluding that shortcomings persists since its previous report in 2016.

The principle of self-government remains unrecognised, either in the Constitution or in applicable laws. The Republic of Cyprus is still a “very centralised country”, the report ascertains.

Furthermore, current monitoring points out that the sphere of responsibility of local authorities remains limited when compared with common European standards. The report stresses that financial needs for local authorities depend too much on State transfers and grants, and that the principles of “adequacy and commensurability” of local finances – that local authorities be adequately financed to match their tasks and functions – are largely ignored in the current legal scheme. Similarly, the current system lacks appropriate financial “equalisation mechanisms”, which would allow to allocate additional resources to disadvantaged communities.

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