At the 5th pre-conference New Democracy in Nafplio, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and on the topic of modern state for all and the modernization of the public administration, focusing on the “executive state”.
In a particularly important political meeting focusing on the modern challenges of governance and on the improvement of the state-citizen relationship, the 5th pre-conference of New Democracy in Nafplio gathers the interest of public life. At the heart of the work is the discussion on the modernization of public administration and the necessary reforms aimed at a more efficient and functional state, with the participation of the Prime Minister and Party President Kyriakos Mitsotakis giving particular political weight to the event. Mitsotakis noted that “the fight against tax evasion has brought large surpluses and stressed that the “digital state is a faceless state that treats all citizens the same“. Mainly through themes that touch the everyday life of citizens, the digital transition and the improvement of public services, the strategic direction for a state that is more modern, faster and closer to the needs of society is highlighted.
The the theme of the event was “Modern State for All”, focusing on reforms, modernisation of public administration and improvement of citizens’ daily life.
Key points of the Prime Minister’s speech
“In 2030 we will celebrate 200 years since the establishment of the Greek State and in view of the 2027 elections, we all need to reflect on where we have been and where we want to go”, the Prime Minister said in his speech, stressing that “the €36 billion of the Recovery Fund would not have been invested without a staff state. “Politics is not made in the pigeonhole”, Mitsotakis said, stressing that the executive state does not cap anyone.
The Prime Minister, referring to the government’s “Modern State” policy, said that what started to be done in 2019 had been planned before the elections. “This is the difference between serious parties and serious governments and those who think only on election Sunday and not on the Monday after the election. The digital transformation proved to be a huge success in which we tackled a number of major bureaucratic problems,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted.
The prime minister also said that everything starts from a central approach: the state at the service of the citizen, listening to citizens and referred to the evaluation of the NHS by citizens:
Mitsotakis’ response on the executive state
“In the last 10 days I have been in closer contact than I wanted with the NHS. What has been reported, the evaluation made by citizens describes a different picture, different from the one described in the media. Obviously there are problems. The image of the NHS is that it is changing,” Mitsotakis said and immediately afterwards referred to the staff state, saying: “We took 36 billion from the Recovery Fund which we are using for the benefit of citizens. If anyone believes that this money could have been used, invested without a staff state and without tight coordination, let him come and tell me.”
“Many people do not remember what the state was like before 2019. Because we consider what we achieved an acquisition. It was not a self-evident path at all. This commitment to the goal compels us to set more ambitious goals. For example, the challenge of artificial intelligence,” Mitsotakis also said: “There is no politics in the potty. It is not possible to do politics without data, with intuition. You have to dig into the problem. This is what politics means for the citizen. I leave the rest to the opposition…”.
Specifically, “executive state means if a project gets stuck somewhere a bell will ring and someone will deal with it – executive state means having a cabinet meeting every month and having a planning of government work at the beginning of the year – executive state means this is the planning of recruitment – executive state means this complex exercise of running a country to make it simpler – no one intervenes to cap anyone
-It is a way of managing and administering, there is no country that does not have a strong centre of governance with civil servants implementing highly complex projects such as the recovery fund – it is a way of administration that brings together technocratic and political understanding – those who insist on finding dividing lines between so-called technocrats who are appointed and politicians who are elected do not understand that in the South West we are a group, an open democratic parliamentary party – we discuss things openly, we are a family and that is why we are finally moving forward.”
At the end of 2026 we will not have the highest debt
The Prime Minister also made reference to the government’s policy to fight tax evasion which, he said, “allowed us to have large surpluses so that we can discuss how much money to return to society and at the same time be able to reduce the country’s public debt, the burden that we and our children are being asked to pay, at the fastest rate in the history of any economy in the world – at the end of this year Greece will not have the highest debt as a percentage of GDP in the European Union.”
No one is captained by the Executive State
Closing his remarks at the 5th pre-conference of New Democracy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred again to the Executive State which he said means that if a project gets stuck somewhere, a bell will ring and someone will take care of it.
“An executive state means having a cabinet meeting every month and planning the government’s work at the beginning of the year – an executive state means that this is the planning of recruitment – an executive state means this complex exercise of governing a country to make it simpler – no one intervenes to cap anyone,” he said, adding: “It is a way of management and administration, there is no country that does not have a strong centre of governance with civil servants implementing highly complex projects such as the recovery fund – it is a way of administration that brings together technocratic and political perception – those who insist on finding dividing lines between so-called technocrats who are appointed and politicians who are elected do not understand that in the South West we are a group, an open democratic parliamentary party – we discuss things openly, we are a family
