The Decentralized Administration of Crete ( el, Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Κρήτης) 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 with ...

, solely consisting of the

region 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 ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. Its seat is in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

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 scale f ...

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 contri ...

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. Th ...

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 go ...

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 24 municipalities of Crete and the region itself.

Characteristics

Covering an area of , ''Crete'' is one of the smallest of the seven decentralized administrations by area, second only to

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

. With an overall population of it is also the third smallest decentralized administration by population, though having recently surpassed the much larger

Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia The Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia ( el, Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Ηπείρου – Δυτικής Μακεδονίας) is one of the seven decentralized administrations of Greece, consisting of ...

. In the European NUTS nomenclature, Crete together with the two regions of the

Decentralized Administration of the Aegean The Decentralized Administration of the Aegean ( el, Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Αιγαίου) is one of the seven decentralized administrations of Greece, consisting of the regions of North Aegean and South Aegean. Seated in Pi ...

forms the first level NUTS region EL4 (

Nisia Aigaiou, Kriti Nisia Aigaiou, Kriti ( el, Νησιά Αιγαίου, Κρήτη), meaning "Aegean Islands, Crete", is a first level NUTS administrative division of Greece created for statistical purposes by the European Union. The NUTS division is not used by ...

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 * Filing ...

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 (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

, and is therefore considered the senior representative of the

national government A national government is the government of a nation. National government or National Government may also refer to: * Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions * Federal governme ...

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.

References

Literature

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 establishments in Greece Crete