PASOK MP Michalis Katrinis accused the government of returning to a centralized model that undermines the philosophy of decentralization and reverses the reformist course that PASOK has charted over time in local governmentduring the debate on the new Local Government Code in the plenary session of the Hellenic Parliament.
As he pointed out, a unified Code was necessary and could serve as the starting point for genuine reform. “This bill, however, does not constitute a major reform. It is a major step backward,” he emphasized, recalling that all major reforms in local government had been guided by the principles of decentralization, strengthening local authorities, and bringing decision-making powers closer to the citizen.
“That was, and remains, the vision of PASOK—the party that brought Greek local government closer to the European model of decentralization and trust in local communities,” he said. Contrasting the two approaches, he questioned whether the government’s vision is “greater control and direct dependence of municipalities on the Prime Minister’s Office, local government without resources, without authority, and ultimately without real autonomy.”
Michalis Katrinis argued that the government is keeping municipalities in a state of financial suffocation, noting that it does not provide the resources it owes them, but instead tells them to “get the money from your residents” and establishes new withholding mechanisms. In April 2026 alone, the state’s outstanding debts to local governments increased by 60 million euros. He accused the government of placing municipalities under financial receivership and of remembering them only when it’s time to assign blame, but forgetting them when it comes to funding. “You want local government to be responsible for everything, but without the means to do anything,” he emphasized.
He also leveled harsh criticism at the change to the local government electoral system, calling it the “Frankenstein system.” “What, ultimately, is your vision for local government? How will you prevent the ‘spare votes’ from turning against you in the second round?” he asked. Commenting on the argument that abolishing the second round would save resources, he remarked sarcastically: “If we abolish the elections themselves, we’ll save even more.”
At the same time, he accused the government of “meticulously regulating the diameter of a stamp” in the bill, while deferring dozens of critical decisions to ministerial decrees.
Concluding his speech, Michalis Katrinis argued that the real problem is “the mindset and the system of the New Democracy’s bureaucratic state,” which “weakens institutions after first attempting to manipulate them, and ultimately results in less accountability, more opacity, a mountain of patronage and corruption.”
“This deep-state apparatus will be soundly defeated in the upcoming elections. It is the citizens who will send it, along with New Democracy, where it belongs: into the dustbin of history, just as the unforgettable Andreas Papandreou did,” he emphatically stated.