In the unfreezing of the three years, the reduction of unemployment, the new labor law, the conquest of the investment grade, the efforts and results of the market controls to fight the exactness, the help and support in Thessaly, the upgrading of the Emergency Departments in hospitals, the second phase of the “Personal Assistant for Persons with Disabilities”, the reduction of uncontrolled landfills in Zagorochoria as well and their registration on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentions in the weekly report on government work.

Mr. Mitsotakis emphasizes that the Market Pass will continue until the end of the year, but only for all of Thessaly, flood-affected communities of Fthiotida and Boeotia, and Evros with doubling of the monthly amount.

Approximately 280,000 households with 740,000 members will benefit.

He also points out that in August the registered unemployed in the register of the DYPA (formerly OAED) decreased by 5% compared to the same month last year (47,000 fewer) and now the lowest number of unemployed is recorded in the DYPA for 12 years. He also underlines that since the beginning of the year almost 15,000 checks have been carried out and fines of more than 5 million euros have been imposed on giant companies.

The Prime Minister’s entire post

“Good morning! Today is Sunday, the day that I write to you about what we achieved in the past week. But since last Sunday was the TIF press conference and we didn’t do a weekly review, I’m afraid I have enough to tell you today! Because in the intervening days many and important news gathered.

But instead of starting to explain them one by one, I thought I’d first write you a list of what’s included in today’s review. A review of the review that is. If you find it helpful, I can repeat it every week. Let me know in the comments if you like it or not!

So today we have: unfreezing of three years, reduction of unemployment and the positive results of the Public Employment Service, the new labor law that has just been passed, the conquest of the investment grade, the efforts and results of the market controls to fight the accuracy, the aid and support in Thessaly, the upgrade of the Emergency Departments in our hospitals, the second phase of the “Personal Assistant for People with Disabilities”, the reduction of uncontrolled landfills and finally, Zagorochoria and their registration on the UNESCO World Heritage list!

So I will start by passing the amendment to “unfreeze” the three years and any seniority allowance after 12 years. This means that from January 1, 2024, hundreds of thousands of wage earners will see an increase in their incomes.

During the pre-election period, we had committed ourselves to supporting and increasing incomes. However, this could not become a reality if our economy did not show a steady upward trend, as institutional investors who choose Greece, as well as international investment houses, now admit. We have confidence in the dynamics of the Greek economy and we continue to implement policies that support both workers and businesses, with the main goal of converging with the European labor markets in terms of wages and rules.

And of course this also means a reduction in unemployment. So in August, the registered unemployed in the DYPA register (formerly OAED) decreased by 5% compared to the same month last year (47,000 fewer) and now the lowest number of unemployed in DYPA has been recorded for 12 years.

I live in the field of employment. To date, more than 142,500 unemployed people have benefited from the active employment policies of the Public Employment Service (DYPA) in the last 4 years, a record number. To have a measure of comparison: from January 2015 to June 2019 only 42,000 jobs were created by the then OAED. Another crucial qualitative and quantitative difference is that jobs in our period were absorbed by 90% in the private sector while in the 2015-2019 period it was about 50-50. We are also seeing a large increase in the numbers of Apprenticeship places on offer for the year 2023-2024. Almost 9,000 seats this year, compared to 6,638 seats last year. 62% comes from the private sector.

What I think you should keep is that, beyond the numbers, DYPA (the agency that used to be the OAED) is now really doing the job it should be doing: finding jobs, training in a much more substantial way. It is more than just the “benefits station” that most of us have unfortunately been in the memory of. This is new and essential.

I am sure that from the new year there will be an even greater increase in employment, sustainable and fairly paid jobs, with the implementation of the provisions of the legislation of the Ministry of Labor approved by the Parliament the day before yesterday.

Many untruths and inaccuracies have been heard and written about what it predicts. I will say it again: our main priority is to protect workers, secure their rights and improve their working conditions and incomes. With the new provisions, the 5-day is not abolished, as some argue, but undeclared, implied and uninsured work is combated, chronic distortions in this field are cured and well-intentioned competition in the labor market is strengthened. Those who oppose the new law need to explain to us why they think it is in the interests of workers to have a second undeclared and uninsured job instead of legal and insured employment, as is now expressly guaranteed. Because that’s essentially what they support.

The stable and permanent increase in disposable income is also a solution to deal with punctuality, because I know very well that the supermarket is very expensive and is a burden for Greek households. Grants and allowances are certainly a breath of fresh air for vulnerable fellow citizens, but at the same time we need to fight profiteering with the utmost rigor and with all the tools at our disposal – and that is exactly what we are doing.

First with market controls. Since the beginning of the year, almost 15,000 checks have been carried out and fines of more than 5 million euros have been imposed on giant companies. But also with the 4 new measures we announced this week, including offering cheaper products for 6 months with fines if the price reduction is false. The checks are also extended to the suppliers of the supermarkets in order to identify possible foci of unjustified mark-ups in all links of the supply chain. Thus, large supermarkets will now have to share their price lists and citizens will be able to more easily report incidents of profiteering.

The well-known Market Pass will continue until the end of the year, but only for all of Thessaly, flood-affected communities of Fthiotida and Boeotia, and Evros with doubling of the monthly amount. Approximately 280,000 households with 740,000 members will benefit.

We support the citizens by staying true to our basic line of fiscal stability and seriousness, a fact highlighted by the foreign rating agencies, which are progressing with each other in upgrading the Greek economy. And I’ll say it again: investment grade recovery means opportunities and investments, new and well-paid jobs.

Regarding the issue of relief and recovery from the consequences of the sweeping floods in Thessaly, let me start by saying that we know that the situation is still very difficult and the citizens are tested every day. The road to healing the wounds and rebuilding the region is still long. But we are there every day and do everything possible to support citizens. And we will continue to do so, for as long as it takes.

To date, almost 25,000 finalized applications and approximately 5,000 provisional applications have been submitted to the arogi.gov.gr platform. The 45 settlements that were completely hit by the unprecedented bad weather – I remind you – receive compensation without a file check. I know that there are still cases where not everyone has received it, and an effort is being made to resolve the technical difficulties. In addition, with a regulation passed yesterday by the Parliament, residents of the areas affected by natural disasters this summer will have insurance coverage until the end of February 2024, while auctions are also suspended.

I repeat, the work that has been done is enormous, but we know that there is still much that needs to be done, and will be done.

In the next few days, the state apparatus will be on its feet again because the meteorologists are warning us of rain phenomena in western and central Greece. Wounded Thessaly must show special vigilance. We will be by her side.

In Thessaly, we are also piloting the way we want primary health care to work in the newly upgraded NHS. Health teams go door-to-door in every village and offer their services.

Last week, the first contract was signed for the upgrade of Emergency Departments in NHS hospitals. It concerns the Thriasio Hospital, one of the largest in the country that covers the needs of Western Attica, receiving thousands of cases from the Peloponnese and airlifts from the Aegean. It is one of the 96 TEPs that, together with 156 Health Centers throughout the country, will “undergo” a radical upgrade – building and equipment – with resources from the Recovery Fund.

With funding from the European Union, from NextGenerationEU, we implement one more – smaller but very important – program: the “Personal Assistant for People with Disabilities”. After the pilot first phase of this welfare action in the Region of Attica and its islands, with 1,000 beneficiaries, we are now proceeding to the second phase of the program for each region of the country, with 1,250 new beneficiaries. The program is for people aged 16 to 65, with a total disability rate equal to or greater than 67% at the time of application. With this program we aim to strengthen their autonomy, encourage their participation in the labor market and contribute to the improvement of their daily life at every level.

One more piece of good news: Greece is freed from the obligation to pay a fine of 720,000 euros a year imposed by the Court of Justice of the European Union for nine landfills in Messinia. And this is because the waste of the Municipalities of Trifylia, Messini and Oichalia is now sent to the modern Waste Treatment Unit of the region.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out something that is probably not widely known: our country, until the beginning of 2019, paid the amount of 80,000 euros per year for each of the 65 uncontrolled landfills that existed in the territory. Today we have got rid of 2/3 of these fines. This means a saving of 3,360,000 euros per year. Our goal is to have all financial penalties zero by the end of 2024. We owe it to the citizens and the environment.

I know I rambled on again, and again I left out a lot of good news! But I end with a development that gave me special joy. Our beautiful Zagorochoria are included – for the first time – in the UNESCO World Heritage list. Thus, a joint effort of the Ministry of Culture, the Region of Epirus and the Municipality of Zagori is justified. It was also my personal commitment from 2019 that the unique architecture of the 46 settlements of Pindos be recognized as a valuable cultural asset and that it now have increased protection from reckless construction and over-tourism.

Thank you for your time again today! Please let me know if the quick “review of the review” at the beginning helped you read so I can continue it in the next ones.