Thessaloniki Mayor Boutaris threatens to quit over loss of municipal staff
Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris has threatened to quit over the government’s plans to put municipal police officers and other local authority employees in a mobility scheme as part of Greece’s commitments to the troika.
“We’ve had no official notification from the state about the municipal police,” he said.
Boutaris complained that without the municipal officers, it would be impossible to police Thessaloniki. He said that if reports about the government’s plans are correct, the municipality in the northern port city would lose about 1,000 employees.
“If this happens, the municipality won’t be able to do its job,” he said. “If this continues, I will hand over the keys,” added the winemaker.
The government has committed to placing 12,500 civil servants in a mobility scheme, whereby they will be transferred to other departments or be dismissed a few months later.
