Prefects "empty out" the Finance Minister

The minister of Finance, G. Papakonstantinou, had a meeting with the prefects of the country in order to update them on the Medium Term Financial Strategy Framework of 2012-2015 and discuss the problems the regions are facing.

According to reports, the minister mentioned the country’s financial situation, noting that a “tidying up” in all areas of the public sector is needed, and by extension, one of all deficits created by local communities.

At the same time, he announced that a committee headed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Elias Plaskovitis, will deal exclusively with the problems faced by the regions. The finance ministry also reportedly considered the proposal of a contribution to the recovery of VAT through their own services.

On their part, the prefects called for financial support of the state and, in principle, asked that they be able to pay their debts to the government, and in turn, their obligations to third parties (construction companies etc.).

They also sought to take bureaucracy to a regional level in order for them to function smoothly and thus better serve the public.

As the district commissioner of Attica, Yiannis Sgouros, stated after the meeting, there are great debts to the prefectures from the Public Investment Programme. He also referred to debts amounting to 220 million just for the transfer of students.

On his part, the district commissioner of Western Macedonia, George Dakis, spoke about investment funds meant for his region that were used to cover other expenses.