Greeks don’t trust state services, Ombudsman says
Greeks have a lack of trust in the state and its services, according to the annual report of the Greek Ombudsman for 2017, which was submitted on Monday to Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis.
The independent authority said it examined 15,438 complaints filed by citizens – a 29.6 percent increase compared to 2016.
Most of the complaints filed concerned social security services (2,330), ahead of those related to town planning and zoning services (750).
Complaints regarding the entrance of foreign nationals and their residence in the country and social welfare, as well as both primary and secondary education also featured high on the complaints list.
A large number also concerned mismanagement. More specifically, 42 percent of mismanagement complaints involved state bodies which operate under public law (NPDD) – as opposed to private law (NPID) – while 17 percent of these concerned ministries.
These state bodies include the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), the One-Off Benefits Fund (ETEAP) and the country’s main state healthcare provider, EOPPY.
Most cases of state body mismanagement involved the non-enforcement, misinterpretation or selective enforcement of the law.
