The handover ceremony of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs took place today, whose responsibilities are divided between the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the newly created Ministry Social Cohesion and Family.

The Acting Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Patrina Paparrigopoulou, handed over the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to the minister, ‘Adonis Georgiadis and to the deputy ministers, Panos Tsakloglou and Vassilis Spanakis and the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family to the minister, Sofia Zaharakis and to the deputy minister, Maria Kefala. There had been a meeting, during which the outgoing minister informed the political leadership of the two ministries about issues related to their portfolios.

The outgoing minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Patrina Paparrigopoulou, said: “On May 26, 2023, I took over the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs from Kostis Hatzidakis. Today, however, I am handing over two ministries: To Mr. Adonis Georgiadis the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and to Mrs. Sofia Zaharakis the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family. The split was to be expected, because the former Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs had an extremely extensive and diversified scope. Social welfare in the past was part of the Ministry of Health, later the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and, today, it is autonomous organizationally and operationally.

The scope of both ministries is dynamic in nature. Both labor relations and social security and welfare are inextricably linked to economic, scientific, technological, social and ideological developments.

In a rapidly and constantly changing world, social protection institutions cannot remain unaffected. The legislator and the administration adapt to these changes.

Important regulations are expected to be established in both ministries, in order for the national social protection system to achieve its goals in the optimal way.”

The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Adonis Georgiadis, said: “First of all, I want to thank the acting minister, Mrs Paparrigopoulou. The caretaker government dutifully did its duty this one month, as the Constitution of Greece defines, for the interim period of the two electoral contests, the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance delivers to us in extremely good condition.

Of course, I want to especially thank the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for renewing his trust in me in an extremely crucial ministry for the development of the Greek economy and the cohesion of Greek society.

When I took over the ministry four years ago Development and Investments, then the main request in Greece was to find people a job. We worked hard, we brought investments, the economy returned to positive growth rates.

When I was handing over the Ministry of Development and Investments to the caretaker minister, what the businesses told us was “find us workers”.

We are here with the two excellent partners entrusted to me by the prime minister. Professor Mr. Panos Tsakloglou, a man with whom I am connected by an estimate of years. He has been a defender of the interests of the state and the people in very difficult times and I thank him for being with me. I believe we will have a very fruitful collaboration with Mr. Vasilios Spanakis, my friend and ally for many years, with whom we are going to fight the battle of everyday life, which must be won. We are here to make the lives of our fellow citizens better and that is what we intend to do, working hard, however many hours a day it takes, without thinking about personal time and rest.

The election is over, there is absolutely no time to waste. The problems of the world do not wait and the Greek people, who did us the greatest honor to trust us, are waiting for us to find solutions to their problems.

I want to thank all the governors, administrations, Secretaries General and staff of the ministry. From today, after this nice ceremony, we get to work.

I also want to congratulate my fellow minister, the hon Sophia Zacharakis. The two ministries went together for a while, they are now split, but they will no doubt work together as we have many responsibilities and joint actions.

You will allow me to say that I am very happy about Mrs. Zacharakis becoming a minister. She has been a jewel for our government in 2019 from the start and I wish her the best of success in these new tasks.

As well as to my friend Maria Kefala, who fought the battle of the Parliament for the past four years and, now, starts from higher duties. I will be by your side as a more experienced minister, to find solutions to any problem that may arise.

You can be absolutely sure that we will be a very nice team. We will do things for the good of our fellow citizens and, when we hand over the good to the next generation, we will hand over the ministries in even better condition than we received them.

I would especially like to thank my predecessor, Mr. Hatzidakis, who did a very good job in this ministry. I would also like to refer to the term of Yannis Vroutsis, because the results of the previous four years had two ministers. The state has continuity, policies have continuity, people have continuity and we are here only for one purpose, for Greek citizens to live in a better Greece”.

For her part, the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Sofia Zaharakis, underlined: “We are making a new beginning in the area of ​​social welfare and family policy here at the Ministry of Labour, which is now split in two. Together with the Deputy Minister, Mrs. Maria Kefala, we will work on the part of strengthening the family and on all this harmonization that must exist between professional and family life, which is a vital need every day. On the protection of people with disabilities, policies that will truly eliminate discrimination and enable our fellow citizens with disabilities to be present every day in all activities. On the promotion of policies of equal treatment, equal opportunities, on the fight against gender discrimination, on the upgrading and revision of the policy on allowances and, of course, we will work on supporting the children who will be at the “heart” of this great effort. Of course, all this will be accompanied by policies to strengthen the youth. As is well known, a big program on the housing policy for young couples has already been started and we are continuing all that has already been started. We reiterate the need for the digitization and modernization of the Welfare Benefits and Social Solidarity Organization (OPEKA). Every person must feel the embrace of this ministry and will feel it”.

The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Panos Tsakloglou, emphasized: “I am very happy to continue in this ministry, in which very important work was done in the previous four years. In my own part, the huge problem we had with pending pensions has finally been resolved. TEKA was created and various legislative initiatives were made, initiatives which I think brought important and good changes in the lives of Greeks. We still have many things to do and we will work in this direction in the next stages”.

The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vassilis Spanakis, noted: “We will do our best to achieve the goals of improving working conditions, better wages and the implementation of the commitments of the government proposal, which was voted by the Greek people in the elections of June 25, 2023. Our concern will be the support of labor rights, the strengthening of social dialogue, the encouragement of trade union expression and negotiation, the reduction of bureaucracy and the fight against issues concerning everyday life, as he said before and the minister and the guardianship of healthy competition. I wish everyone a good start.”

Finally, the Deputy Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Maria Kefala, stated: “A new government with many goals and with increased demands and expectations from the Greek society, always in the framework and the steps it took in the previous four years. Our goal is to turn the steps taken in the previous four years into leaps and to show ourselves worthy of the expectations, but also of the trust of the Greek people. From today, we start work. The elections are back, good luck to everyone.”

During the delivery-receipt ceremony, the Secretaries General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Anna Stratinaki, Pavlina Karasiotou, Eleni Gioti, Kalypso Goula, the official Secretary, Matthoula Triantafillou, the commander of the Independent Labor Inspection Authority, George Tzilivakis, were present. the commander of e-EFKA, Panagiotis Doufexis, the commander of DYPA, Spyros Protopsaltis, the commander of OPECA, Konstantinos Gloumis, the commander of NAT, Konstantinos Tsagaropoulos, the commander of MTPY, Epaminondas Atsaves, the managing director of TEKA, Kimon Volikas, the managing director of the Real Estate Development Company of e-EFKA, Katerina Joannou, the deputy directors of e-EFKA, Alexandros Varveris and Giorgos Gratzios and the deputy directors of DYPA, Mr. Gianna Hormova and George Karahalios.