Government must speed up reforms
Approximately 1.5 million electricity connections have no associated taxpayer identification number. The average time for a court decision in Greece is 4.5 years, compared to just 450 days in the rest of the European Union. Seven out of 10 self-employed professionals report an annual income of less than 10,000 euros. The Olympic Stadium in Athens closed due to safety concerns with the Calatrava-designed roof (maintenance instructions have been ‘misplaced’). “During an eight-hour shift, I examined 88 CT scans,” says the director of the CT department at Nikaia General Hospital in Piraeus. Athenians spend half of their salary on rent. Greece’s population is expected to decline to 8.5 million by 2050.
These are some of the recent headlines from Kathimerini newspaper. Reading them, we realize that the issues are the same as those that concerned the Greek public back in 2019 when Kyriakos Mitsotakis was first elected prime minister. In the 4.5 years since, very little has changed in Greece’s lethargic and anachronistic state system, with only a few reforms making progress.
Appointing ministers with a reformist agenda in the health and justice ministries is not sufficient to transform the antiquated state machinery
It is undeniable that Mitsotakis had to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. In both instances, he reacted appropriately, going to great lengths to protect and support citizens. That’s why the people reelected him earlier this year, with the expectation that the reforms he promised would become a reality.
While the new appointments in public organizations via gov.gr represent significant progress, as does the distribution of hundreds of thousands of pensions and infrastructure improvements through the Recovery Fund, a small revolution is still needed to truly reform the state across all its sectors. Appointing ministers with a reformist agenda, for example, in the health and justice ministries, is not sufficient to transform the antiquated state machinery. It requires the full mobilization of all available resources, focused and vigorous work, and daily coordination under the guidance of the prime minister’s office.
However, we still see ministers taking vacations throughout the summer and the prime minister, just three and a half months after New Democracy’s overwhelming electoral victory, traveling across Greece to support the candidates from the conservative party for regional governor positions. What the people expect, and what will make a substantial difference for the country, is for Greek justice to no longer be viewed as the slowest in Europe and for tax evasion in the Greek economy to be significantly reduced from being among the highest among the OECD countries. It is high time for the government to set its priorities straight.
