Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday, with ministers providing a review of actions completed over the government’s four-year term and including upcoming actions.
Government spokesman Yiannis Economou provided to the press details on the issues discussed. Among them were the following:
– State and Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis presented the country’s digital transformation over 2019-2022, particularly the rise in the number of online transactions between citizens and the state from 8.8 million in 2018 to nearly 1 billion in 2022. Digital services besides the vaccination system introduced during the pandemic include the provision of prescriptions online, and simplification of processes like the registration of a birth, as well as the use of a digital ID or driver’s license through a cellphone. In addition, the “Cloud First Policy” sparked the interest of giant cloud companies in investing in Greece.
– Health Minister and Deputy Minister Thanos Plevris and Mina Gaga, respectively, discussed the upgrade of the National Organization of Transplants and the entire system to facilitate donor and recipient matching and improve efficiency.
– Migration Minister and Deputy Minister Notis Mitarachi and Sophia Voultepsi, respectively, presented the new migration code that will simplify processes and move them online, streamlining the types of permits issued and allowing human resources to be better utilized elsewhere, as well as a new institutional framework to invite workers to Greece for seasonal or permanent work.
– State Minister Akis Skertsos presented a unified government rule plan that contains 19 detailed action plans for every ministry in 2023. A total of 111 legislative interventions of 17 ministeries are scheduled in 2023, 121 political targets have been set, and 486 actions with 1913 plans have been scheduled up to December 2023. A large number (43%) relate to EU harmonization procedures, while 325 projects relate to the UN’s 17 goals for sustainable development.
At the closing of its four-year term, the government has completed 74 annual action plans, 4 unified government policy plans, 12 national horizontal-policy plans, 387 laws and 11 codifications. In addition, it completed 12 successful assessments of enhanced and post-program surveillance leading to the country’s exit from the 12-year-long enhanced surveillance program in August. This has led to reduction of the national debt by 6 billion euros and to the inflow of revenues from state bonds amounting to a total of 2.58 billion euros.
The government survived four mega-crises, Economou said: the refugee/Greek-Turkish, health, energy, and climate crises, managing to double the economy’s rate of growth from that of the average European rate.
A national plan on mental health was also drafted by a commission of 35 specialists from academia and field work, in association with Health ministry services and the technical support of the World Health Organization.
The plan, presented at the cabinet meeting, includes developing services and procedures to identify and handle mental health issues for both children and adults, reducing hospitalizations, protecting patients’ and families’ rights, promoting research, and helping people suffering from mental illness enter and integrate into the labor market.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
