President Board of Directors

Europe is now entering a period of great importance for both local government and the other institutions, as the new programming period for 2014-2020 has already begun.

The anxiety of all of us for the future of the institution we serve and the country we live in is common regardless of existing political and geographical differences.

Our main issue remains how local government could play an important role in the development of our country and the European Union.

The new Community Support Framework has a very different philosophy from the previous ones. It contains many obligations and emphasises the promotion of innovation, entrepreneurship, smart specialisation, employment, social action and integrated local development programmes.

It is certain that in order to gain a clear advantage in claiming resources from the Development Funds we all need to take the appropriate measures. Therefore, a number of Greek local government organisations have taken the initiative to create a partnership to support our institutions in the new programming period.

Together we are joining forces to develop and effectively manage public services and infrastructure and to respond in the best possible way to citizens' needs, providing better quality services and enhancing local development.

To succeed in this effort and vision we strongly believe that the DEPAN Cities Network must also include a different level of Membership.

Legal entities from Greece or abroad that share similar goals and vision with the Cities Network and wish to contribute with their activities to the promotion of the goals and objectives of DEPAN.