President of the Congress holds political meetings before the Congress Bureau meeting in Nicosia

In Nicosia on 9 and 10 February 2017, President Mosler-Törnström held political meetings with Demetris Syllouris, President of the House of representatives, Ioannis Kasoulides, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Constantinos Yiorkadjis, Mayor of Nicosia and Ionas Nicolaou, Deputy Minister of the Interior as well as Andreas Kitromilides, President of the Union of Cypriot Communities and Alexis Galanos, President of the Union of Cypriot municipalities.

They mainly discussed the situation of local democracy in Cyprus and its reform. The Congress President emphasized the readiness of the Congress to help the Cyprus authorities in this process in order to strengthen local democracy in the country.

The President was informed that the draft law on administrative reforms that is currently before the Parliament intends to reduce the number of municipalities and amalgamate communities, municipalities and services, to make economies of scale, increase the autonomy of local authorities in the country, improve their financing and reinforce the services they provide to citizens. The report on the situation of local democracy in Cyprus adopted in October 2016 was considered in the process of preparing the draft law.

The President was also informed on the state of the current talks for the reunification of the island, with a new political meeting to take place in March and mainly discuss the question of security. The talks were organised in the framework of the meeting of the Congress Bureau in Nicosia on 10 February under the Cyprus chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.