Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia
top-level regional administrative unit in Greece
The Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia (Greek: Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Ηπείρου – Δυτικής Μακεδονίας) is one of the seven decentralized administrations of Greece, consisting of the peripheries of Epirus and Western Macedonia. Seated in Ioannina, Epirus, it is currently led by Acting Secretary-General Vasileios Michelakis.
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 (Law 3852/2010).
They enjoy both administrative and financial autonomy and exercise devolved state powers in urban planning, environmental and energy policy, forestry, migration and citizenship. Beyond that, they are tasked with supervising the first and second-level self-governing bodies: the municipalities and regions, in this case the 30 municipalities of Epirus and Western Macedonia, and the two regions themselves.
Characteristics
Covering an area of 18,654 km2 (7,202 sq mi) Epirus and Western Macedonia is medium-sized by area. With an overall population of 620,545, it is however one of the least populated of the seven decentralized administrations in Greece, second only to the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean.
In the revised European NUTS nomenclature, the regions of Epirus and Western Macedonia together with the two regions of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace form the first level NUTS region EL5 (Voreia Ellada).
Secretary-General
The Decentralized Administration is led by a Secretary-General (Γενικός Γραμματέας) who is appointed or dismissed by a Cabinet decision upon request of the Greek Minister of Interior, and is therefore considered the senior representative of the national government in the regions.
Following the electoral victory of Syriza in January 2015, the new Minister for the Interior, Nikos Voutsis, declared that the decentralized administrations would be abolished, and their powers transferred to the regions.
“Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia” enters the record as top-level regional administrative unit in Greece. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Decentralized, Administration and Epirus can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9254348. Authority coordinates are 39.974, 21.028. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2010 and 2015.
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