Local Government in Greece at the Crossroads: Between Governability and Accountability

Antonios Karvounis

doi:10.12681/hapscpbs.27654

Abstract

This policy brief is based on the assumption that the recovery of Greece, after more than a decade of crisis, should include local government, the institution, which is closer to local people than central government, and, consequently, ought to be more accountable. One of the most important problem identified here is the democratic deficit of the first level of local governance system. Despite its strong political and social clout, local government in Greece remains an institution with limited capabilities, as the Greek State has been and remains one of the most centralized states in Europe. In fact, after the 2019 general election, just before and during the recent pandemic crisis, the legislative initiatives of the government, despite the international trends of decentralisation towards more participatory and accountable local institutions, turned to the traditional and favourite “mayor-centered” system of local governance for the sake of the “governability”. As a result, the re-concentration politics of local government loom large for the post-coronavirus era.

Highlights

It is a truism that a great deal has changed in the world of Greek local government over the past thirty years and that much of this change has been the subject of intense political and media debate
Arguments for more democratic policy process and less dominant parties with little legitimacy have been overshadowed by voices for more, not necessarily better, “governability”
This policy brief attempts to grapple with the changes that have taken place in the first level of local government over the past decade of financial and pandemic crisis, in terms of accountability and governability

Summary

Introduction

It is a truism that a great deal has changed in the world of Greek local government over the past thirty years and that much of this change has been the subject of intense political and media debate. It is safe to say that everybody is more or less aware of some of the key issues in recent history of local government. Since the late 1990s a number of changes in local government, if less dramatic, has been taking place in one of the most centralized states in Europe (Ladner et al, 2019). The “Kapodistrias Plan” (1997) and the “Kallikratis Programme” (2010) have, in the eyes of many observers, brought high-profile territorial reforms in local government. The end product of these reforms has been a failure to solidify check and balance mechanisms versus the “mayor-centered” system of local governance. A series of new legislative initiatives launched after the 2019 general elections has been interpreted as a direct attack

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Findings

Conclusions