Greek PM Announces Six Measures for Municipalities: €240 Million for Energy Debts, School Maintenance Grant Doubled
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced six immediate measures to support the country's municipalities as he addressed the conference of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) on November 5, focusing on energy costs and project financing.
The six measures are: €240 million to be allocated within November to repay municipalities' overdue debts to energy providers; €300 million for recycling projects, to be credited directly to municipalities; €200 million per year for the next four years for urban road construction, funded through a special fee to be applied once the fuel market normalises; a doubling of the annual state grant for school building maintenance, with a total of €400 million planned over four years through the 'Marietta Giannakou' programme to repair almost 2,000 schools; an option for municipalities to raise the non-resident fee from 0.75% to 1%; and an additional €50 million for energy storage batteries so municipalities can use locally produced renewable energy for self-consumption.
Mitsotakis also announced two further steps on energy costs: talks with power utility PPC on settling a remaining €60 million of municipal debts, and immediate discussions on a special electricity tariff for municipalities. He noted that annual state financing of municipalities has risen from less than €1.8 billion in 2019 to €3 billion in 2026, an increase of 67%.
He added that Greece expects to secure tens of billions of euros of new European resources in the negotiations over the EU's 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework, and that local government must prepare for a funding model tied to milestones and reforms. Greece will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2027.
Source: Prime Minister's Office of Greece
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于雅典的希腊议会大楼。A.Savin 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0。 / Photo: The Hellenic Parliament building in Athens. Photo by A.Savin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
