PM Mitsotakis: October 28 anniversary is ‘a constant reminder of what we can achieve with national unity’
epa11086689 Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece. EPA, GIAN EHRENZELLER
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The national holiday of October 28 is “a constant reminder of what we can achieve with national unity, even when we face the ‘impossible’,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in his weekly Facebook post on Sunday, reviewing the events of the previous week.
“Eighty-four years later, our country is a pillar of stability in a persistently troubled neighbourhood, a reliable factor of peace, with strong armed forces that guarantee our deterrent power. A prerequisite for this patriotism of responsibility, this healthy patriotism, is a dynamic and sustainable growth of the economy,” said the prime minister.
Referring to the government’s work, Mitsotakis emphasised the plan for the transformation of the economic production model, with the strengthening of investments and industry, which was presented a few days ago at the development ministry. He focused on actions under the plan in Evros and Zakynthos, presenting in detail the developmental changes brought about by government policy in these two areas.
The prime minister then referred to high retail prices and the relevant government actions, stressing that the effort to reduce the burden on households continues.
He noted that, at the invitation of the development ministry leadership, the Union of Supermarkets of Greece is proceeding with a reduction ranging from 6% to 15% in the retail prices of 123 basic consumer products, to begin with, and that these will gradually increase to 600, while organised retail has responded to the government initiative .
Mitsotakis then referred to the bill passed on Tuesday in Parliament for the acceleration of recruitment through the civil service recruitment council ASEP, with provisions aimed at supporting island and mountainous regions that give a higher percentage bonus for applicants who are local residents, as well as increasing the efficiency of civil servants through a system of incentives and rewards.
“[These are] obvious measures with a social impact. That is why the refusal of the opposition, SYRIZA and PASOK, to vote for them is incomprehensible,” Mitsotakis said, while noting that voters can see which parties are simply mouthing slogans while refusing to cooperate on things that are self-evident.
He also referred to the government policies for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce – “one of the pillars of our National Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2024-2030,” he said. The prime minister said that the plan had been posted on the amea.gov.gr website and incorporated many of the proposals made during the consultation stage, but also a new chapter on supporting the families of people with disabilities, based on feedback given by such families and adopted. He announced that ASEP has started accepting applications for a total of 1,592 permanent or indefinite employment positions for staff at various education levels in public institutions, which are only open to applicants with a disability rating of at least 50%, saying that the deadline for submitting an application and relevant documentation is until November 5, 2024. He also highlighted another issue that “was my personal commitment: we are finally giving our Paralympic athletes the opportunity to exercise their right to be appointed to vacant government positions”.
The prime minister’s additionally also touched on “the very serious issue of juvenile delinquency, which saddens us and at the same time motivates us all to take action”. He cited figures released by the citizen protection ministry showing that arrests of minors in 2024 had jumped to 10,600 up to the end of September, up from 7,400 in the corresponding period the previous year.
The most worrying thing, according to Mitsotakis, was that children are now acting in gangs, which was not the case in the past, and did not hesitate to use knives or even pistols. He emphasised that actions on the part of the state, in addition increasing the police presence in places frequented by minors to prevent violent incidents, included the five-digit hotline 10201 for complaints and reports, and the launch in a few days time of the Safe Youth app, a panic button for minors, so that the authorities can be alerted and provide help in any incident, via GPS.
Regarding violence in schools, Mitsotakis said that the evidence indicated that the stop-bullying platform had helped people to speak up and come forward, with 501 reports registered in total, of which 213 were made this year.
Finally, the prime minister referred to the compensation that will be paid to livestock farmers who were forced to destroy their animals due to the small ruminants plague and smallpox in the summer, saying that there will be full (100%) replacement of livestock using European funds.
Source: ANA-MPA
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