The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, presented the intention to change the electoral system of Local Government as a commitment of his and his government, in order «to better align the will of the citizens with the majorities in the Municipal Councils».
At the same time, he announced the adoption of a bill on companion animals in February, which will provide a coherent framework for their protection, which will go beyond the interventions that have already taken place and have to do with the criminal nature of animal torture.
The palette of reforms and changes is very wide. My own encouragement is that these projects should run quickly and that we should focus on projects that have a measurable impact and will improve the daily lives of citizens,» the Prime Minister said during a meeting with the new leadership of the Ministry of the Interior.
Mitsotakis stressed that «the very large chapter of multilevel governance remains open, boundaries and responsibilities between the central state, decentralised administrations, regions and municipalities. This in itself will be a landmark reform, but it still has a lot of work to do to mature.»
The Prime Minister also stressed that «there are important issues which have to do with staff, with deserving civil servants, who, even in very difficult circumstances, have generally outdone themselves in order for the state to continue to function smoothly.
Η teleworking which we have been forced to impose on the public sector for public health reasons, gives us the opportunity to think about how we can integrate it in a more organised way into the daily routine, the daily working life of the public sector, once we have put the pandemic behind us. And of course there are still important issues about the evaluation of civil servants, always in the sense of rewarding and especially recognising the contribution of those exceptional civil servants who very often feel that in an egalitarian evaluation system their contribution is not recognised.».
The Home Secretary, Makis Voridis, briefed the Prime Minister on the reform agenda set as a priority by the Ministry, noting, inter alia, that «a large part of the major reforms that need to be made in the state start with the Ministry of Interior. The strategic direction is clear and unambiguous, at the end of the Administrative Reform what we want is a Public Service that can provide friendlier and more transparent, more transparent, clearer services to citizens and there is a whole framework of discussions that we need to have. There is an ambitious reform agenda, we will take the steps quickly and decisively and this is obviously also in line with fulfilling the mandate that we have received from the Greek people.».
The Deputy Minister of the Interior, responsible for Local Government, Stelios Petsas, stressed, inter alia, that «to be Citizens First, we must continue to reform, which the government has shown it can do. Despite the crises, it has continued the reforms throughout this period and we will continue them by taking the baton from the successful work of our predecessors and accelerating the process of reforms at two levels: institutional and developmental.».
The Deputy Minister of Interior, responsible for Macedonia and Thrace, Stavros Kalafatis, noted that «the Macedonia-Thrace sector aims to act as a catalyst for the government's reform efforts» and referred to the priorities of the sector, including the country's digital transformation, green growth and the strengthening of social cohesion.
The entire statement of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis:
«Thank you very much, Minister, Deputy Minister, Minister of State, Ladies and Gentlemen Secretaries General. From the Ministry of Interior I am starting a cycle of visits to Ministries that have gained new political heads in the recent reshuffle of the government. And as the Minister said, I am coming to an area that is particularly familiar to me and it is with great pleasure that I meet again people with whom I had the opportunity to work in other times, when we were launching bold reforms in much more difficult circumstances than today, but I think that they left an important imprint on how we perceive the structure of the public administration as a whole, but also on the use of human resources, which is at the heart of any major reform effort.
I must say that the Ministry of Interior has had an important, enviable project to show for these 18 months - and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the previous leadership of the Ministry for the important reform initiatives it had launched - only now it is being followed by an even more ambitious programming. So my wishes to the new Ministers are accompanied by my encouragement for a lot of work and, of course, the expectation of tangible results.
The Ministers briefly presented the framework of the major changes that are also reflected in the reform plan for 2021, as prepared and approved by the Council of Ministers and as coordinated by the Prime Minister's General Secretariat.
I would also like to stress the special importance I attach to the change of the electoral system of local government, which was our electoral commitment. We have already made some initial interventions to facilitate the functioning of municipalities and regions. However, it is our commitment to change the system of proportional representation in order to better align the will of the citizens with the majorities in the municipal councils. We will bring the relevant bill which is ripe for approval to the next Council of Ministers in January and I believe that we can legislate very soon afterwards, always in consultation with the institutional representatives of local government. Immediately after that, welcome the February Cabinet, we will approve the basic principles of an important Pet Animals Bill. We have been very concerned about this issue-the Minister is aware of it in his previous capacity as Minister for Rural Development; there has been a great deal of preparatory work and now this Bill will be an important breakthrough. We have already discussed it extensively with animal welfare organisations. We will continue the discussion in the context of the public consultation. But it will be a bill that will give a clear signal to modernise legislation and create, launch a coherent framework for the protection of companion animals, which will go beyond and above interventions that have already been made on, for example, the criminalisation of animal torture.
Beyond that, the palette of reforms and changes is very large, very broad. The Deputy Minister spoke about the important developmental, financial tools that we have at our disposal to support local government initiatives. My own encouragement is that these projects should run quickly and that we should focus on projects that have a measurable impact and will improve the daily lives of the citizens. We have mentioned, by way of example, the rural road projects, which are projects that are easy to implement, but very important because they also help to support the primary sector as a whole. But there is a very rich theme in these projects and obviously these initiatives are coming together with the central reform priorities of the government in terms of addressing climate change, digital transformation.
There are important issues which have to do with staff, with deserving civil servants, who, even in very difficult circumstances, as a rule, have surpassed themselves in order for the state to continue to function smoothly. The teleworking that we have been forced to impose on the public sector for reasons of public health gives us the opportunity to think about how we can integrate it in a more organised way into everyday life, the daily working life of the public sector, once we have put the pandemic behind us. And of course there are still important issues about the evaluation of civil servants, always in the sense of rewarding and especially recognising the contribution of those exceptional civil servants who very often feel that in an egalitarian evaluation system their contribution is not recognised. There are issues to do with the new law that we have passed on the operation of the AESP, so that all the secondary legislation can be put in place so that it can be implemented as soon as possible. And, of course, the very big chapter of multi-level governance, as the Minister said, of the boundaries and responsibilities between the central state, the decentralised administrations, the regions and the municipalities, remains open. This in itself will be a flagship reform which still has a lot of work to do to mature.
And of course we always attach particular importance to issues relating to Macedonia and Thrace and the Ministry has the ability to accelerate and facilitate the work of other Ministries with a series of flagship actions relating to Northern Greece, such as Project Thess INTEC, Helexpo, there are many major development projects that are underway in Northern Greece, many of which relate specifically to the urban complex of Thessaloniki and obviously the Ministry will assist in the overall effort of these projects to run as smoothly as possible.
And a special mention, because the deputy minister mentioned it, of the border stations. The state of the border stations does not do justice to the image of our country and we have the possibility of launching a modernisation plan relatively soon. And it is something that I am following very closely, because it has a dimension that is not only economic but also deeply political.
I will stop here, Minister, because I could go on for some time, but I am absolutely sure that the new team of the Ministry will run with even greater speed and deliver reforms that will make life better for citizens. As we have said, citizens first, this is the motto that permeates all government policies and of course it is predominantly put into practice here at the Ministry of Interior, where the heart of the public administration beats.
Ironheads, then, again. Good work to all and sundry.».
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Interior, Makis Voridis, the Deputy Minister of Interior, responsible for Local Government, Stelios Petsas, the Deputy Minister of Interior, responsible for Macedonia-Thrace, Stavros Kalafatis, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister to the Minister of State, Theodoros Livanios, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister, responsible for the coordination of the Government's work, Akis Skertsos, the Secretary General of Interior and Organization, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, the Secretary General of Human Resources in the Public Sector, Vivi Charalabogianni, the Secretary General of Citizenship, Athanasios Balerbas, the Secretary General of Coordination, Thanasis Kontogeorgis and the Secretary General of the Service, Georgia Valatsou.
