Dendias to Loverdos: Funds are increasing in 2023 to cover the needs of the Greek embassies

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Nikos Dendias stated that the 2023 budget will be close to 290 million euros and added that in 2023 the budget for promotion and public relations expenses in foreign authorities will approximately double.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, spoke about an increase in credits to cover the needs of the Greek embassies in 2023, answering a topical question from PASOK MP Andreas Loverdos, about covering the operating costs of the embassies.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also informed Mr. Loverdos about the reforms that have been launched, mainly with digitization projects, characteristically saying that “for the first time in its history, this ministry will absorb more than 110 million euros for digital projects. It will change like a Ministry” said Nikos Dendias.

At the same time, Nikos Dendias stated that the 2023 budget will be close to 290 million euros and added that in 2023 the budget for promotion and public relations expenses in foreign authorities will approximately double.

He also informed the MP that there will be a comprehensive reform of the general financial management. Nikos Dendias, referring to the allocation of funding for the actions, of the Directorate of Strategic Planning, said that there will now be an operational plan that will include costed actions in a way that “it will not be the minister who will distribute money, according to sympathy and pleasure of, in the embassies”.

Mr. Dendias’ answer in detail

Mr. President, thank you. Good Evening.

Dear Minister, colleague,

I also thank you for the recognition in the matter of honest cooperation and information between us.

It is certainly my obligation. I don’t do anything more than that. Anyway, thank you for being kind enough to acknowledge it.

I must also say that on the principle of your question, as you know and as you expect, I will agree with you. I’m not going to come here or start by telling you “then this happened, then that happened or is it his fault before”.

I would agree with you that the appropriations available, especially for publicity and public relations expenses in the Foreign Authorities are very limited and the overall budget of the Ministry is very limited.

You will allow me to say two things in the prologue and continue to fill in the second part, seeing the process here as a process of mutual information and explaining a position to the National Delegation, and not as an attempt to deal with the question as an opposition tool against the government.

I will not expand on the budget issues you mentioned. However, it will simply be around 290 in 2023. And a previous difference, a decrease that appears, is not a real decrease, because staff and various costs have returned to the General Directorate of Development. But let me stick to your question, because it is of greater interest.

First of all, in essence, in 2023, the figure that the Foreign Authorities will start with will double, to around 800,000 euros from around 300,000 in 2022. For publicity and PR costs, that’s why which is mainly what your question is about as I read it.

Which, also, and the 300,000 euros of 2022 will reach approximately 1,000,000 euros by the end of the year, with additional approvals from the Central Service for ad hoc actions.

But here, ladies and gentlemen, we are dealing with a structural problem, for which there has been an attempt to correct.

The legal problem is the whole financial management of the Department, which allows every year – Mr Speaker, perhaps if you will allow me to take a little advantage of the precedent – there is a pile of refunds, which the services are unable to absorb.

There is an improvement in absorption, we have reached 78% in 2021, we estimate that in 2022 we will pass 80%. We started below 70%.

But in order to deal with this, the need is the overall reform of the Ministry which is implemented. And I say epigrammatically, I can expand on the deuteronomy.

A General Financial Directorate was established, which must be staffed with people who are qualified in the field of financial management. A large part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not know financial management. We have announced the position, it was fruitless, we re-announced it.

A Strategic Planning Directorate was created with a framework that has a distribution of actions, so that we know which actions to finance. And not for the Minister to distribute the money according to his will and sympathy, or according to the big or small name of the respective Embassy.

We have proceeded to digitize the financial management of all the Authorities of the external service, which will start operating on June 1, 2023. Whoever succeeds me, that is, will have a serious tool in his hands, to know what is happening in the finances of his services .

There is a presidential decree, which we will discuss, you will be informed independently in your previous capacity regarding the composition of the Foreign Service Authorities, because we will bring about changes.

And there is also the implementation of the project “Digitization of Consular Services” so that there are better services. I will tell you the rest in the second part, but in summary the answer is as follows:

First, more money in 2023.

Second, improve the system so that no refunds are made. This means digitization and strategic planning, allocation of actions and funding of actions. No services at the discretion of the respective Minister.

Mr LOVERDOS:
*****

Mr. DENDIAS:
Dear colleagues and Mr. Minister,

I have no intention of blaming you for your motivations for asking the question and I say again, because I want to be honest with the National Delegation, that I largely share at least your reading of the numbers.

What I would like to ask you to do together is to get away from reading the numbers as numbers and from the rhetorical complaints of the people who handle the meager – not so meager, because I have told you again that the Ministry over time increases gradually the amounts, but meager anyway and to the absolute extent that it reaches, i.e. the 1 million with which we will start in 2023 – it takes years.

And you correctly placed the benchmark in the neighboring country, which often works to the detriment of our own interests. This is true and our country must promote its rights. Her rights are not from God. Therefore, I share the motivations that lead you to the question.

I am asking you, however, to go deeper behind the first problem to the second order more important problem, which is the timeless inability of this Ministry – I would not like to publicly explain why, I have an explanation for this – to absorb funds.

I will give you an example: NSRF. It is the only Ministry that has not approved anything for its building infrastructures, both inside the country and outside the country, which are suffering. You say about the expenses of the Foreign Authorities, and you are right, let me give you a number. And I will also justify my own three-year journey, because you are right, I am not from “yesterday”. I cannot act and speak like someone who has just come to this post.

The voted budget of 2021 was 26 million, with additional configuration, 43 million. We are talking about the credits of the Foreign Authorities. Do you know that they returned 11 million which they could not absorb? So with what weight will I go to the Ministry of Finance and tell him “bring more” when the Ministry’s mechanism that I manage does not have the ability to absorb the funds? So what was the choice? Because you are right and you say to me “three years that you have been there what have you been doing?”. I will tell you what I did.

I tried to change the operating system. And I said before: General Directorate of Financial Services. Business plan with costed actions, so we know where the money is going. Digitization in Consulates.

If you ask me, if you ask me a question right now and talk to me about the expenses that are made on the basis of consular collections until 9/30, I don’t have to give them to you, because I don’t know them. It will come to me all together at the end of the year.

And from there and beyond as well, a digitized platform for the actions. To know what actions are taking place and therefore what money we pay for these actions.

And in the second year, a change of the Diplomatic Academy, to change the qualifications of the diplomat, so that he also understands economics.

You asked me about the EIFs, I could answer you about that as well, but time does not allow. We have to do – and I say do because this goes beyond one parliamentary term, maybe two or three at the very least – a comprehensive reform which, however, has entered a road. Because this Ministry for the first time in its history will absorb more than 110 million euros for digital projects. It will change like a Ministry.

Whoever sits in the chair of the Minister of Foreign Affairs after two years will manage another Ministry. He will not answer you, you or anyone else, as I answer you today.

But that required a whole mindset change. Not “I’m increasing the funds, so that I can return them at the end of the year to the Ministry of Finance, so that no one comes to check on me, correctly, and tell me what you’re doing.”

But changing the system as a whole, so that it can become a modern Ministry of the 21st century. This is my apology to you.

And I say again, I submit the apology, endorsing the correctness of what you say that in absolute terms the amount is comical. You are not going to hear anything else from me about this.

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