Three key interventions that “will ensure transparency in the implementation process of a project as well as the control and knowledge of the security status of public infrastructures”, include the draft program of SYRIZA-PS on transport security, which was presented by Alexis Tsipras in the context of a seminar of the party’s Infrastructure and Transport sector on the topic “Safe transport, modern infrastructure”, at the “Hellenic World” Cultural Center.

The president of SYRIZA PS emphasized that “justice everywhere means security everywhere, it means first of all respect for life itself”. He said that corruption flourishes in the dark and always at the expense of security, to underline that “we are determined to put a definitive end to this party that not only puts public finances at risk, but human life itself.” He noted that the focus of the SYRIZA proposal is a new Clarity overall for public works, overall for infrastructure projects.

The three interventions he developed concern firstly the establishment, implementation and operation of a digital Central Licensing System, secondly the establishment, implementation and operation of a digital Central Monitoring System for Technical Projects and, thirdly, the establishment, implementation and operation of a Recording, Operation and Maintenance System of Public and Private Projects, in which all public and private projects, which have been definitively received, are recorded.

He noted that “there is an urgent need to restore a sense of security and justice everywhere. For the security that every citizen who lives, works and travels in this country should feel. For the justice that must govern the operation of the state, the management of the Greek taxpayer’s money in the way of transparency and the defense of the public interest”. He explained that the proposal he is submitting today for the operation of critical sectors of the administration and critical infrastructures introduces the logic of transparency into the operation of the state: In the licensing and execution of public projects, in the operation of control mechanisms, in the establishment and observance of specifications, in implementation of minimum factors for safe operation of each public infrastructure.

“The government continues to arrogantly ignore responsibility”

In particular, the president of SYRIZA PS pointed out that the country is still mourning and society is wondering, but, he commented, the government “continues arrogantly to ignore responsibility”. “We are here today, in the shadow of Tempe. In the shadow of not a sacrifice. But of an unspeakable tragedy,” he said, emphasizing that in the face of such events, those of us who ask for the people’s vote should stand before the debt: “Let’s not allow it to happen again. Let’s do everything, at any cost, so that every citizen feels safe in their movements. To consult the experts, to listen to the workers, to study the best international practices”. Criticizing the government, he argued that “unfortunately, not all politicians and all political forces feel this debt. Some continue to live with image anxiety. With the obsession of communication and propaganda. Some people do not understand that the citizens are not looking for ministers who will pretend to be train drivers, but for prime ministers who will stop pretending to be ignorant”.

Mr. Tsipras said that SYRIZA’s duty is to speak not with wishful thinking but about immediate and radical solutions, “to describe how the daily movements of citizens will be neither a risk nor an adventure but nothing more than a routine. As in any serious state. As the Constitution itself imposes in the final analysis”.

He emphasized that “democracy is the contract and the terms of this contract are security and justice. Everywhere and for everyone” and that “if a government not only cannot ensure them, but repeatedly becomes the same factor undermining them, then this is a dangerous government that must go”. He said that every aspect of the SYRIZA plan presented in the run-up to the elections “are the foundations on which we will build again relations of trust between the citizen and the state, the society and the government”.

The president of SYRIZA argued that the tragic accident in Tempe highlighted “the magnitude of the inadequacy and inefficiency of the state, which was built with the old materials of nepotism and clientelism and maintained with old and new recipes of corruption and serving interests”. He spoke of a looting state that was subsequently discredited, “giving what is most useful for the public interest to private individuals for profit, disregarding the basics, even the safety of citizens.” He commented that those who discredited it “ordered that this state would be fixed”, but “the so-called staff state turned out to be a big fiasco” and “the repetition in an even greater intensity of all the sick practices of 40 years and more”.

Following these, he noted that the debt for “a strong, modern and efficient state that will ensure the obvious and prevent the unthinkable, such as the tragedy of Tempe” remains unfulfilled.

“At the heart of the proposal is a new Clarity for all public works”

Mr. Tsipras said that today he decided not to position himself with proposals on technical issues, which will be put on the thematic tables of the conference and will be recorded in the positions and proposals of SYRIZA, but he wants to propose solutions “for the root of the evil in the public administration and in the execution of public works”, because if this is not dealt with we will not be able to create safety conditions in the works and infrastructures, no matter how much we want to.”

He emphasized that security needs more light and that “much of the mismanagement, inadequacy and entanglement in public-private transactions, which is a catalyst for the security and operation of public infrastructure, is due to darkness.” Corruption flourishes in the dark and always at the expense of security, he said, “because where the alisverisi of the imemeras and the agreements are made under the table, no one takes into account either the security or the quality of the infrastructure”.

He underlined that “in this party that not only puts public finances at risk, but human life itself, we are determined to put a definitive end”, adding that this will not be done by half measures but “with radical proposals and over all the political will to confront the decline”. He emphasized that it is decadent to live “in a state that did not have consumables in hospitals during the pandemic and at the same time has distributed 9.5 billion in direct assignments and closed tenders.

Following these, Alexis Tsipras stated that “we need a large section of transparency in the licensing, execution and operation of public infrastructure projects, which will ensure the observance of the correct procedures and above all their safety standards. A secure, transparent and efficient system for recording, producing and monitoring public and private projects”.

He noted that the focus of the SYRIZA proposal “is a new Clarity for public works, overall for infrastructure projects”. “Everything in the light. No more delays and under-the-table deals. No more bogs of projects. No more darkness which means oxygen to corruption,” he said.

Plan

Specifically, Mr. Tsipras developed three interventions:

  • first, institutionalization, implementation and operation of a digital Central Licensing System. With the interconnection of all bodies and services of the State and the wider public sector, which are involved in licensing, in the approval procedures of public and private technical works, and of all auditing bodies and authorities. The handling of the approvals and licensing process will now be done entirely electronically. The system will also include the special categories of licenses and approvals from agencies and services such as the forestry, the antiquities bureaus, the architecture council, the fire brigade, etc.
  • Secondly, institutionalization, implementation and operation of a digital Central Monitoring System for Technical Projects. In this system, the entire course of implementation of a public project will be recorded. “In short, what is happening today will not be possible. That is, after the pre-contractual control by all the bodies that exercise the control of legitimacy such as the Court of Audit, EADISY, the Pre-Trial Appeals Authority, the administrative authorities, a project, the implementation of a contract is without visibility. And the proper observance of the prescribed procedures, at the discretion of the employees of the competent service and of course in their relationship with the contracting company. From now on, every account, every task board, every progress, every disbursement will be in Clarity, visible to everyone. And obviously every extension and every delay will be in the light. Therefore, the Public Contracts Authority, the Minister of Infrastructure himself, MPs and every ordinary citizen, will have the possibility of knowledge, control and intervention”.
  • third, establishment, implementation and operation of a System for Recording, Operation and Maintenance of Public and Private Projects, in which all public and private projects, which have been definitively received, will be recorded. At the same time, the list of project maintenance and operation elements is drawn up, and for building projects it is linked to the Electronic Building Identity system. “In two words”, he said, “we are creating a National Digital Register of infrastructures, in which all maintenance actions and safety certifications are also recorded, so that we know at any time what state the public infrastructures are in and therefore what needs to be done to to ensure the safety of their use”.

Alexis Tsipras argued that “with these three interventions we ensure transparency in the process of implementing a project and gain control and the necessary knowledge of the security status of all public infrastructure”.

He expressed his belief that the SYRIZA plan “for Transparency in the implementation of public projects and in the maintenance and operation of public infrastructures, is a leading institutional section in the operation of the Public Administration, corresponding to other leading institutional sections, corresponding to other transparency interventions and meritocracy”.

He said that it will be an intersection that will give the necessary institutional control tools to the administration, but also will consolidate a different mentality among public officials and above all a different relationship between public services and private individuals.

“A relationship”, he emphasized, “which if rationalized will ensure public resources, speed in the implementation of projects and most importantly safety for the citizen”.