Local Government

The Interior Ministry is moving ahead with changes to the Municipal Police force, deeming that the existing framework needs to be adapted to meet the needs of the country's cities and their residents. It is also planning to hire more than 1,200 new officers.

Nasos Balerbas, secretary-general of the Interior Ministry, will replace in the coming days another ministry official who resigned over a data breach scandal in which emails were sent to diaspora voters by a Conservative European Parliamentarian, Kathimerini understands. 

As the average tenant spends over a third of his or her monthly income to cover housing costs, renters' unions, organizations which are common elsewhere in Europe, are starting to gain ground in Greece too.

The budget deficit in the "State Government" institutional sector for 2022 is 4,859,000,000 leva, NSI reports. This is 2.9% of GDP.

The newly elected mayor of the Kosovo-Serb majority municipality of North Mitrovica took his oath of office on Friday in a tense atmosphere following extraordinary local elections a month ago that most local Serbs shunned. 

Erden Atic is a member of the ruling Vetvendosje party, which has few members in the town.

As part of the effort to upgrade Greece's civil service, a new special training program at the National Center for Public Administration and Local Government (EKDDA) will start in February aiming at training executives to fill key positions in the public sector. 

The fiery front that started yesterday from Pournari in Glyfada and has spread due to the strong winds towards Panorama Voulas and Vari is in recession.

With the first light of day, aircraft and helicopters entered the battle of extinguishing the fires, in an effort to prevent a resurgence.

Ljubljana – Emilija Stojmenova Duh, the candidate for minister of digital transformation, has pledged to build on what has been done well in the field in the past. Her priorities would be to narrow the digital divide and pave the way for society’s effective digital transformation, she told the relevant parliamentary committee before getting its nod Saturday.

The institutional sector "State Government" reports a budget deficit of BGN 5.433 billion, which is 4.1% of Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP), according to preliminary data from the National Statistical Institute.

In 2022, the deficit was 4% of GDP, and in the last year before the start of the coronavirus pandemic (2019), a surplus of 2.1% of GDP was reported.

The traditional pruning of the vineyards near the south-eastern town of Kavadarci for St. Tryphon's Day on Monday turned sour when the Bishop Agatangel of the Macedonian Orthodox Church called in his sermon for the opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE party to return to power.