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EXCLUSIVE. 5 million euros to be returned if the Municipality does not open the Theater immediately. “A Slap on the wrist” from the EU.
One step before sending an ultimatum to the Municipality with the order “open the Municipal Theater or return the 5 million euros” is the European Commission, whose patience seems to be running out with the general delays in the implementation of the commitments of the Municipality of Zakynthos towards it.
Yesterday, auditors of the General Directorate of Regional Development, after intense pressure from the European Commission and the Managing Authority of ESPA, (Management of Public Investments and Public Projects) visited the Municipal Theater, in order to check the progress of the projects and to find out why it remains closed.
The paradox is that although the Municipal Theater, in terms of the building, technology and infrastructure is fully ready to open its gates to the public and artists, something that should have been done by December 31, 2019 and which has not happened because the Municipality simply refuses to staff it with staff that will make it operational, despite what the tenants of the City Hall falsely claim and reproduce various scenarios.
According to information from zantereport, the first deadline received by the municipal authority, to proceed with those moves required in order to hire staff to finally operate the Municipal Theater, expires at the end of the week.
The next deadline, which will be final, expires at the end of the month. This means that if until then and if the EU does not give a new extension, a possibility that is considered very difficult as the patience of its executives who have undertaken the specific issue, is now exhausted, the Municipality will be obliged to immediately return the 5 million euros given used from the ESPA project.
In the meantime, it is almost certain that until then, the island will be visited for inspection by European Commission officials, which shows how seriously they take the issue and how much they are annoyed, if not angry.
What remains is to see what the Municipality will choose to do. It will “run” the procedures, ie hiring staff, making the Theater available to artists, creating a program of events, etc. and to operate it fully, at last, as they owe or to be indifferent, as in everything else to date, and to put their hands in their pocket to return the 5 million to the EU?
Andreas Papadimitriou
To read the full story in Greek please click on the link :- https://zante.report
