The Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Μακεδονίας–Θράκης) is one of the seven decentralized administrations of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, consisting of the peripheries of

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...

and

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, translit=Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the coun ...

. The region is centered in the metropolitan city of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Formation and tasks

Decentralized Administrations were created in January 2011 as part of a far-reaching reform of the country's administrative structure, the

Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the count ...

(Law 3852/2010). They enjoy both administrative and financial autonomy and exercise devolved state powers in

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scal ...

and

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contr ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

and

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

. Beyond that, they are tasked with supervising the first and second-level

self-governing __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

bodies: the

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

and

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, in this case the 60 municipalities of Central Macedonia and of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, and the two regions themselves.

Characteristics

Covering an area of ''Macedonia and Thrace'' is the largest of the seven decentralized administrations by area, and with an overall population of it is also the second most populated one, following the

Decentralized Administration of Attica The Decentralized Administration of Attica ( el, Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Αττικής) is one of the seven decentralized administrations of Greece, solely consisting of the region of Attica. Its seat is Athens. Formation a ...

. In the revised European NUTS nomenclature, the two regions of ''Macedonia and Thrace'' together with the two regions of the Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia form the first level NUTS region EL5 ( Voreia Ellada).

Secretary-General

The Decentralized Administration is led by a Secretary-General () who is appointed or dismissed by a

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

decision upon request of the Greek

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, and is therefore considered the senior representative of the national government in the regions. Following the electoral victory of

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

in January 2015, the new Minister for the Interior,

Nikos Voutsis Nikos Voutsis ( el, Νίκος Βούτσης; born 4 March 1951) is a Greek politician and MP who served as the Minister of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction from January 2015 to August 2015, and as President of the Hellenic Parlia ...

, declared that the decentralized administrations would be abolished, and their powers transferred to the regions. Until this reform is formalized, and as the Secretaries-General appointed by the previous administration resigned on 2 February, the decentralized administrations are run by their senior civil servants as Acting Secretaries-General.

List of Secretaries-General

Since its establishment in 2011, the following General Secretaries have been appointed: * Efthimios Sokos, January 2011 – August 2012 *

Athanasios Karountzos Athanasios ( el, Αθανάσιος), also transliterated as Athnasious, Athanase or Atanacio, is a Greek male name which means "immortal". In modern Greek everyday use, it is commonly shortened to Thanasis (Θανάσης), Thanos (Θάνος), ...

(

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

), August 2012 – February 2015

References

Literature

External links

* {{Decentralized Administrations of Greece 2011 establishments in Greece Central Macedonia Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Macedonia