By Penelope Galliou

“TIF Week” which starts today and the machines in the government staff and the Maximos Palace are working at full speed in the final stretch to the TIF and the Prime Minister’s speech next Saturday, September 9. The meetings at Megaro Maximos are feverish in order to add the final “touches” to the speech and to finalize what Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to announce at the established autumn meeting in Thessaloniki.

Measures that will be “locked in” once the Prime Minister returns from Cyprus, where he is going today to participate in the tripartite meeting of Greece-Cyprus-Israel.

With the facts so far in his speech, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to give a clear message inside and outside the country of reforms that will breathe life into society and strengthen the social stigma of the government, without, however, as the economic staff emphatically notes government to put the fiscal stability and course of the country at any risk. As close associates of the prime minister have repeatedly emphasized, the measures aimed at improving the daily lives of citizens will be absolutely “weighted” and costed, but also within the country’s fiscal framework, as the government’s goal remains the fastest possible recovery of the investment tier, awaiting positive news.

In his message on Facebook, Mr. Mitsotakis, returning to the “accounting posts” and referring, as he wrote, to the words that mark the new four years of his government, chose the phrase “reform acceleration while targeting as an opponent of the government “the problems of society and place. And he is a difficult opponent, with whom we fight every day,” he characteristically wrote.

In any case, the prime minister’s speech, according to information, will not be unambiguous but will develop the broader government strategy, over a period of four years, with daily life at the forefront, which as I mentioned above – under the conditions and conditions of fiscal stability and the recovery of investment grade, will have a social symbol which, according to the information so far, will include:

  • Market Pass extension until the end of 2023.
  • New interventions in the heating allowance.
  • Maintenance of reduced VAT rates in transport, catering, culture and tourism.
  • Personal difference allowance to pensioners who will not receive an increase on January 1, 2024

High on the government’s agenda, which will also be reflected in the prime minister’s speech, is always the health sector with 10,000 recruitments, reform of the EKAB, digital transformation and a new health map, which will establish uniform service protocols in all structures of the territory. Especially for EKAB, the government goal is for the organization to reach European standards, recording response times of even seven minutes for extremely urgent incidents. At the same time, the recruitment of 800 permanent rescuers is expected to be launched, alongside the placement of ambulance crews on three-year contracts.

Equally high on the priorities is Education, with an emphasis on all levels and acceleration of initiatives that will enable the establishment of non-state universities, alongside the simultaneous upgrading of public Universities.

What Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself characterized in the last Council of Ministers as a “cornerstone reform initiative of the government” concerns Justice and the acceleration of its award, which is a bet for the new period of government of the ND.

Under the pressure of the fires that broke out in the country during the summer months and left their mark on the affected areas, Megaro Maximos already has the Civil Protection’s plan for the next day ready. With procurement in 2026 or at the latest in 2027 of the new Kananders, more than 100 drones that will be able to monitor sensitive points, temperature measurement sensors, installation of cameras in all archaeological sites and high-risk forests and assistance in advanced heat recording systems. “We gave answers to unfair accusations and facile myths that often deliberately cultivate a confusion around the climate crisis. We also had the opportunity to announce a series of initiatives, in order to turn today’s negative situation into a better defense for tomorrow. From the immediate supply of new technological equipment in the context of the rapid implementation of the “Aegis” program, new prevention procedures and of course the additional recruitment of 1,200 new firefighters and foresters”, said Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the cabinet.

Finally, the Prime Minister’s speech at the TIF will not lack references to the state and its “change” with the expansion of digitization, but also the evaluation of structures and persons in the entire public sector.