Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave a detailed account of the government's interventions last week in a post on his personal Facebook account. In fact, at the end of his lengthy post, the Prime Minister states that «whether you agree or disagree with this government, I promise you that every day we work to make life better for every citizen.».
Here is the full post of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis:
«Every week we take an internal review of our work - we look at what we have achieved, what has changed for the better, what we could do better, what we need to improve - in short, we look at what lessons emerge. In this week's debate we saw again how difficult it is to communicate to the world the whole of government's work.
And it makes sense. People have jobs, concerns and stresses, and often don't have the time or inclination to go into details, especially if they don't think they are directly relevant.
But today I decided to share with you everything that happened last week. It's a long text, not in keeping with the dictates of social media and quick messages. But I deeply believe it has a value. Because I believe it reflects the great effort we make every day to improve people's lives.
So let's take a look at an overview of 17 highlights of the government's work over the past week:
A first long-standing issue of concern to us in government is the issue of inequalities in society. Obviously it is neither easy nor simple. It is not addressed with aphorisms and big words. It is an ongoing struggle. So, practically this week,
- We have legislated for emergency financial assistance (until 20 December 2022) for vulnerable pensioners, disability benefit recipients, uninsured elderly people, minimum guaranteed income recipients and child benefit recipients.
We have secured a 3 percentage point reduction in social security contributions. This sounds almost accounting, but in practice it is an increase in income for citizens.
We have increased the monthly instalments of regulated social security debts from 12 to 24, to help people pay their debts.
We extended maternity leave for private sector workers to 9 (from 6) months.
We established a 40% state subsidy of 40% insurance contributions for converting part-time private sector contracts to full-time contracts. This effectively means we incentivize companies to stop having part-time employees.
We extended to all uniformed personnel the right to «five years of combat service», i.e. the recognition of up to five additional years of insurance, with the payment of the corresponding contributions.
We reduced the disability rate (from 67% to 50%) for receiving disability benefits to harmonise all categories.
We established the Early Intervention programme for children 0-6 years old who have been diagnosed with disabilities or developmental difficulties.
-We prohibited any discrimination against HIV-positive people at the stage of recruitment or retention in employment. In particular, the investigation of HIV-positive status by means of a question during the recruitment process is prohibited. Period. It is a fundamental and human dignity issue.
On energy accuracy, which I know how much everyone is concerned about and is an absolute priority, we have also taken additional measures:
We have already put in place a mechanism to recover overcharges from electricity producers. This week we have also introduced a mechanism for electricity suppliers. This is an issue where we have really pioneered in Europe and we are in contact with other countries that want to introduce similar measures.
All of the revenue will be channelled into the Energy Transition Fund to finance energy bill subsidies. On your account, of course.
The energy transition must go ahead and it is going ahead. Both for environmental protection and energy security reasons. And there too we have had positives this week: We set a pan-European record for the share of solar energy in gross solar energy consumption reaching 8.8% in 2021; this year it is expected to reach 10%.
There was also a record installation of photovoltaic systems in Greece in 2022. The capacity of new interconnected projects is expected to reach 1,340 MW by the end of the year, already exceeding the government's projections in the first nine months. (And while I'm writing about renewables. A further parenthesis for the environment, which is not a parenthesis for us: forest maps have been completed in 94.5% of the Territory).
In culture, we had an important development as we are moving forward with 100 million euros of funding from the Recovery Fund and the NSRF for the 18 UNESCO heritage sites in Greece to protect them from the threats of the climate crisis.
On the issue of violence against women - and we will have more to say soon - the provision for the use - for the first time in Greece - of the innovative digital panic button application by women victims of domestic violence, in order to notify the Greek Police immediately and in a safe way, in case they are in a situation of threat or danger to their lives or their physical integrity.
In the primary sector, we have developed and are implementing a holistic 7-point plan worth €40 million for the restoration, full productive use and protection of the traditional olive grove of Amfissa, which is part of the Delphic landscape and a small part of which was burnt in the summer of 2022.
On National Security and National Intelligence, as we promised, we have brought a new bill that aims to correct, improve and shield the overall framework.
Finally, an important one, one of the things that I confess I was moved by.
The day before yesterday at an evaluation event with the completion of this year's fire season (the preparation for the next one has already begun), the people involved, the protagonists who gave their struggle, spoke. They were overwhelming.
But equally important was the conclusion. We had significantly less forest area burned (by 62%) and fewer total acres burned (by 52%) compared to the average of the last 15 years, and we had 3% more fires than in the previous 15 years.
Investing in prevention, forest clearance and the opening of firebreaks and the cooperation of the fire brigade, police, coastguard, armed forces, forestry services, ambulance, municipalities and volunteers is working.
If you got to the end of this long post, thank you and I hope you found it useful. Whether you agree or disagree with this government, I promise you that every day we are working to make life better for every citizen.».
