ABOUT US
etisiosinedrio ΥΠΟΧΡΕΩΣΕΙΣ ΟΤΑ ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΜΕ ΔΙΕΘΝΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΕΡΓΑΣΙΕΣ

KEDE

CENTRAL UNION OF MUNICIPALITIES OF GREECE - THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT UP TO NOWADAYS

The initial Union was founded by the resolution of the 3rd November 1927, adopted by the First Conference of Mayors of Greece, that also approved the Union Statute,
consisted of 11 articles. The articles regulated the aim of the Union, its administration and organization, setting out as well, some basic rules for the resources and the management.

The First Conference of Mayors of Greece took place in Athens from the 30th of October to the 5th of November 1927, under the chairmanship of the then mayor of Athens, Mr Spyros PATSIS, who served as mayor of Athens during the period 1922-1929.

The Organizing Committee of the Conference consisted of the following mayors of:

  1. Athens
  2. Piraeus
  3. Patras
  4. Lamia
  5. Alexandroupolis
  6. Ioannina
  7. Kavala
  8. Chios
  9. Heraklion, Crete and
  10. Messolonghi

The President was the mayor of Athens Mr Sp.PATSIS and the general secretary was the mayor of Messolonghi, Mr Chr. ΕVAGELLATOS.

The conference was attended by 42 mayors and 17 representatives of mayors, chairpersons or members of municipal councils.

Following the suggestion of the mayor of Lamia, Mr Ioannis MAKROPOULOS, it was decided the establishment of the Union of Municipalities of Greece, and a committee of seven members, was assigned to draft the Union Statute.

The Statute was finally approved by decree on the 12th of April 1929.

The Union as a legal entity was recognized in 1929 with the article 52 of Law 4108/29, which stated that the Statute is approved by the Royal Decree of the Ministry of Interior and the relevant issues about the control and management of the Union are regulated.

This was followed by a new Statute, voted in the 2nd Conference of Mayors of Greece that took place from the 10th to 16th of May 1931.

The new Statute contained additions to the first and furthermore,the title was supplemented as “Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece“.

This Statute is approved by the Presidential Decree of the 3rd of September 1931.

At the same time, the Decree of the 11th of June 1930 “on the management and control of the Union of Municipalities of Greece”, issued in execution of the article 52 of the Law 4108/29, amended by the Decree of the 11th of December 1934.

The Article 52 of the Law 4108/29, as supplemented by the article 4 of the Legal Decree of the 16th of October 1935 makes the contributions in favor of the Union of Municipalities and Communities, which are its members, compulsory expenses.

The Article 7 of the Law 6027/34 provided for the same method of payment of these contributions.

This legislation, concerning the Union, was amended by the regime of the 4th of August 1936, which amended its statutory provisions with the Law 1893/39.

The Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece was also granted the magazine “Local Self -Government Inspection”, issued by the Director of Local Self-Government of the Ministry of Interior.

These two Statutes determine the aim of the Union as : ( article 1 of the above Presidential Decree )

  • the promotion of the municipal and community administration, the vigilance over the interests of the Local Authorities Organizations, the facilitation of the cooperation among them and the provision for them of every administrative, financial and technical data, that would be useful for them to achieve their goal, furthermore so far as to ensure the welfare of the Municipalities and Communities, to provide every moral and material benefit, that the cooperation among them may attribute, as well as the mutual moral support within the boundaries of the prefecture.
  • the provision of every moral and material benefit;
  • the collection of information and statistics from the local authorities, the monitoring of comparative legislation and the research of local self-government issues, the submission of consultation to the legislative administration, the attempt to adopt the conclusions of the local authorities congresses, the collection and classification-evaluation of the relevant legislation, the setting up of a library, the publication of bulletins
  • the installation of the self technical service providing to the Municipalities and the Communities technical and technical-economic consultation on special issues (city planning, contracts and electricity, roads, sewers) etc.

According to the provision of the article 7, the Mayors of Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki were obliged to participate in the Steering Committee, while the article 8 provided for the setting up of the following services of :

  • Research and technical studies.
  • Administrative studies, judicial and disputed administrative studies.
  • Economic, industrial and commercial studies.
  • Publishing service.

In the framework of the Compulsory Law 1893/1939, the Union came under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Interior (Article 1) while at the same time, a Government Commissioner was appointed to it, who policed ​​its entire function (Articles 6 and 7).

At this point, we should notice that the Union was a Legal Entity under Private Law (according to its initial Statute which was approved by the Decree of 12/4/1929 and the article 52 of the law 4108/1929).

Only for a decade, K.E.D.K.E. operated, since in 1941, the Decree Law 71/41 finally abolished it.

After the liberation, the issue of its re-establishment arose sharply among the bodies of Local Authorities. In fact, the Fourth Congress of Towns of Greece, that took place in 1951, faced the re-establishment of the Union as the Executive Office of all the Local Authorities of Greece which, as in the past, will offer valuable services to Municipalities and Communities.

In this spirit, the Conference instructed Professor G. PAPAHATZIS to prepare the Draft Law “on the reconstitution of the Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece”, certainly without having been institutionalized all the provisions of the above Plan, which had been approved by the Conference.

Afterwards, we reach the Decree Law 2189/1952 “on Local Associations and the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece”, which, in the aims of the article 2, included, inter alia:

  • the promotion of municipal and community administration,
  • the research and study of municipal and community issues,
  • the collection and provision of data and information,
  • the formation of consultation on relevant bills.

The Compulsory Law 477/1968 overturns the last democratic rule concerning the operation of KEDKE , and instead of the election, it provided for the nomination of the bodies of Local Associations and KEDKE.

According to the Presidential Decree 197/78, the aims of the legally Local Associations and of the Central Union are the promotion of the municipal and community self-government, the research and the study of issues concerning the area of ​​local self-government, the collection and provision of data and information related to these issues and finally the assistance of the cooperation among the Local Authorities Organizations.

In the framework of the same Presidential Decree, in the article 1, concerning KEDKE, it is mentioned , the establishment, the name and the seat, in the article 2 the purposes in detail and in the article 3 the resources.

In 1985, the Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Self-Government (Ε.Ε.Τ.Α.Α.) was founded (with the participation of Κ.Ε.D.Κ.Ε) as a scientific advisor to the bodies of Local Αuthorities and in 1990 it is established by the bodies of Local Authorities, the public company for the provision of consulting and design services “INFORMATION, TRAINING, LOCAL DEVELOPMENT” (PETA) whose shareholders are 48 development companies and municipal enterprises as well as KEDKE.

In 2005 the Institute of Local Self-Government (ITA) was founded as a Legal Entity of Private Law, in the form of a non-profit Civil Society and the participation of KEDKE by 90% and by 10% that of the Local Association of Municipalities and Communities of Attica.

The way of electing the collective bodies of Local Authorities was described by the Presidential Decree 48/99 as amended by the Presidential Decree 12/2007.

After voting the Law 3852/10 “KALLIKRATIS” concerning the election of the bodies of Local Authorities, those of the Regional Associations of Municipalities of Greece (PED) and that of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE),the Presidential Decree 75/11 was issued .