We have from the outset defended Israel’s right to self-defense but have separated the Palestinians from Hamas and will always support the need for humanitarian aidsaid Mr. Marinakis at the start of the briefing for the political editors.

Also, the government spokesman announced that the prime minister will attend Egypt’s international conference on the Middle East and Greece will send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The government remains committed to the reform agenda, he added, referring to government work.

Referring to the criticism of Mr. Kasselakis in the interview of Mr. Mitsotakis about the “government of oil merchants”, the government representative replied that Mr. Kasselakis did not understand anything from the prime minister’s interview. Mr. Kasselakis insults the Greek producers first, but he also distorts what Mr. Mitsotakis said.

Citizens are tired of hearing an opposition distort reality, the government spokesman added.

He pointed out that at yesterday’s meeting a series of bills were discussed with the aim, among other things, of strengthening critical infrastructure of the state, increasing the income of citizens and strengthening entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises.

Mr. Hatzidakis presented a new bill for servicers that promotes transparency and protects borrowers. The protection of the truly vulnerable is being expanded, said Mr. Marinakis.

By decision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a High Level Advisory Committee for Artificial Intelligence is established with the main objective of preparing the country for the developments that all kinds of applications of said technology will bring.

Tomorrow the Prime Minister will travel to Igoumenitsa where he will attend the official signing of the concession of the use of the port to the Grimaldi Group.

Asked about the statements of Avgenakis and Georgiadis, Mr. Marinakis said that the prime minister did not refer to the specific ministers in his statements about moderation and modesty and if there was any complaint that they use financial tools with criteria that do not suit self-government, it would have been submitted to the public debate .

Regarding the statements of Mr. Kouretas regarding the suspension of the works for the dykes in the region of Thessaly, Mr. Marinakis referred to the answer of Mr. Agorastos and repeated that the state has continuity and is not affected by the change of the persons of the self-government . After all, Mr. Kouretas was the first regional governor with whom the prime minister met.

The entire opening statement of Mr. Marinakis:

“We, from the first moment, defended Israel’s right to self-defense, but at the same time we distinguished the terrorist Hamas from the Palestinian people and fought – and are fighting – so that we could prevent a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

This obviously means: humanitarian aid, possibility – as far as this is possible – to protect the civilians who are trapped in a war zone and are the last to blame”.

The Council of Ministers met yesterday under the Prime Minister. The Government remains committed to its reform agenda, promoting the major changes entrusted to us by the Greek citizens.

At yesterday’s meeting of the Council of Ministers, a series of bills were discussed with the aim, among other things, of strengthening critical infrastructure of the state, increasing the income of citizens and strengthening entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises.

The Minister of National Economy and Finance Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis presented to the Council of Ministers a new bill for servicers which achieves increased transparency in the relations between borrowers and funds and establishes a stricter framework with the aim of protecting our most vulnerable fellow citizens.

Specifically,

Obligations of transparency, information and respect for debtors’ rights are established for servicers. In case of violation of the obligations set by the law, fines of up to 500,000 euros will be imposed on them, while the penalties reach the revocation of the operating license.

Protection is extended to the truly vulnerable.

The arrangements for the extrajudicial mechanism are being modernized and improved.

Among other things, the algorithm is being improved from which the amount of the debt write-off – and therefore the amount of the debt that is regulated through the out-of-court settlement – is obtained for all debtors who have secured loans and not just the vulnerable ones.

The arrangements resulting from the algorithm of the extrajudicial mechanism become mandatory for banks, for those who apply and meet the “vulnerable borrower” criteria. If the banks disagree with the characterization they should go to court against the facility and not against the borrower. Until there is a decision, the borrower will pay the installment resulting from the arrangement.

While the interest rate of the arrangements is set at 3% fixed for 3 years, procedures related to bankruptcy are simplified and a Private Debt Monitoring Register is established.

The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Adonis Georgiadis, and the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Panagiotis Tsakloglou, presented to the Council of Ministers the legislative initiatives for the employment incentives for retirees, measures which were also detailed today in the press conference they granted a little while ago. In particular, from 01.01.2024, the 30% pension reduction for employed pensioners is abolished and a non-remunerative resource is established for the e-EFKA, proportional to the income resulting from the pensioner’s employment.

In addition, the maximum debt limit for retirement is increased from €20,000 to €30,000, while in order to speed up the granting of supplementary pensions, the conditions for establishing a supplementary pension for all e-EFKA insured persons are unified.

At the same time, a one-off financial aid of up to €200 is provided for pensioners with a personal difference, depending on the amount of their pension, while the maternity allowance is extended to self-employed women and farmers.

The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance N. Papathanasis presented the course of implementation of the actions of the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

To date, 718 projects have joined the Fund, with a total budget of 20.72 billion euros. Of the 536 investment projects submitted, 320 concern small and medium enterprises, with a total budget of 4.76 billion euros. More than 100,000 small and medium enterprises have been strengthened with grants from the Recovery Fund, with an amount of 667.96 million euros.

The new proposal for the revised Recovery Fund includes additional projects that mainly concern the strengthening of environmental prevention, civil protection as well as the creation of new infrastructure. At the same time, additional projects for the reconstruction of the areas affected by fires and floods, with a total budget of 686 million euros, are part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

In addition, with their joint announcement yesterday, the Ministries of Finance and Digital Governance increase the grant to 145 million euros from the Recovery Fund-Greece 2.0 so as to cover all the approved investment plans of small and medium enterprises that are part of the “Development of Digital Products and Services” program ».

The Deputy Minister of Health Mrs. Irini Agapidaki referred to the interventions of the Ministry of Health aimed at strengthening Primary Health Care through the development of an integrated system, in which Public Health and Primary Health Care are integrated.

Specifically, financial incentives are provided to general practitioners and pathologists to join the Personal Doctor program, while a pilot program for the repatriation of doctors and pathologists will be conducted. In addition, additional administrative and nursing staff are expected to be hired to support all personal physicians.

This new framework aims to strengthen access to health, reduce inequalities, while acting as a referral to the secondary care system and having the long-term goal of upgrading to an integrated health care model.

The Minister of the Interior, Ms. Niki Kerameos, and the Deputy Minister, Ms. Vivi Charalambogianni, presented the annual public recruitment planning with priority on health, the climate crisis and the personnel that will cover the milestones of the Recovery Fund.

The positions to be filled are 16,521 for the year 2024, of which 6,500 are in health. Recruitment planning is fully in line with the estimates of the Ministry of the Interior in collaboration with the General Accounting Office of the State in application of the 1 to 1 rule, i.e. one recruitment for every one departure.

The Minister of Environment Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis presented the strategic plan for the protection of forests. It is a multi-level effort that envisages the way in which we will actually transform the forests of our country into productive ones and the way in which we will involve the private sector in cleaning programs, fire prevention and planting new forests. The measures will be specified on Monday by the Minister.

The 9th first aid payment was made to those affected by the floods that occurred at the beginning of September in Thessaly and Central Greece.

Cumulatively to date, 66.8 million euros have been paid to 14,664 natural persons, who have been affected by the unprecedented flood phenomenon that hit Thessaly, but also areas of Central Greece.

By decision of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a High Level Advisory Committee on Artificial Intelligence is established.

The exponential rate of development of Artificial Intelligence makes it necessary to set up an Advisory Committee under the Prime Minister, with the main objective of preparing the country for the developments that all kinds of applications of said technology will bring, in the direction of participatory resilience, competitiveness, sustainable development and prosperity.

The Commission will provide evidence-based advice and proposals on how Greece can take advantage of the multiple possibilities and opportunities arising from the use of Artificial Intelligence, but also how it can implement a coherent protection framework against possible challenges and adjustments, inequalities and the risks involved.

A little while ago, the Prime Minister held his regular monthly meeting with the President of the Republic, Mr. Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

Tomorrow, October 20, the Prime Minister will travel to Igoumenitsa for the signing of the contract for the sale of a majority stake in the Igoumenitsa Port Authority SA. which marks the beginning of a new period of development for the port of Igoumenitsa, which is the country’s third largest port and gateway to the Adriatic. Then, the Prime Minister will hold a working meeting in the Region of Epirus.