The Minister of the Interior, Niki Kerameos, spoke to SKAI on the show “Mismatched” about the funds that the government will allocate to the victims of Thessaly.

As the Minister of the Interior said, over 5,000 autopsies have been performed and “we are in the phase of recording damages for the rehabilitation of those affected” and at the same time they have submitted approx 8,000 applications (5000 final 3000 temporary) to support those affected.

In addition, he said that 600 million euros have been announced by the Ministry of Finance and 600 million euros by the Ministry of Infrastructure, while 2.25 billion were also announced after the meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the President of the Commission.

Analyzing where the 2.25 billion comes from, Mrs. Kerameos said: “The 2.25 billion comes from NSRF funds 2014-2020. Greece has already absorbed approximately three times what was absorbed in the previous period 2015-2019 and from the additional funds are 250 million euros which our country would not have and these are given for the benefit of this effort”.

Regarding the government’s request for a review of the Recovery Fund, he said: “The Fund operates under certain rules and no reviews are allowed, with the exception of one case, of natural disasters, emergency. That’s where the request for a review of the Recovery Fund was based.”

“The message is one, this government will do everything in its power to support those affected,” he added.

For possible restructuring

In the scenarios regarding possible restructuring, Mrs. Kerameos commented that the government went through a difficult quarter.

“We have to deal with unprecedented difficulties. At the time of the battle, all the forces of the state apparatus focus on how to support the victims. There is no further discussion. The time will come when we will assess how the state as a whole has functioned in this situation.”

Finally, the Minister of the Interior also referred to upcoming bill, the third that will come and will concern the legal entities of the public in a broad sense.

According to Mrs. Kerameos, for the recruitment of these persons there will be a new recruitment system with higher qualifications and faster procedures. Their term of office will be 4 years and there will be an evaluation in the middle.

As he said 16,000 people will leave the state and 16,000 will be hired with priority on health and civil protection.