“A very important political and social reform is the postal vote. It is a big step which completes the universality of the vote. With this step, we guarantee the universality of voting for those who are objectively unable to vote at the polling station,” he said in and the show “Morning” with Giorgos Autias, the Minister of State Akis Schertsos.

On the occasion of his upcoming visit Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Athens, Mr. Skertsos emphasized: “We have changed the page with Turkey. For 10 months now there has been a significant de-escalation in the tension that we had seen in previous years. Our goal is to build a new trust, as much as possible, with the Turkish side, so that we can have peace on the border. This policy has brought results, it has led to much lower immigration and refugee flows. And we will stick to this policy. And if this leads to a resolution of the bilateral issues, over time, even better. We are working for a strong Greece, which claims and has secured the respect of its partners”.

Regarding her increase in the allowances of civil servants, the Minister of State emphasized that “we want to strengthen, to empower public servants, who have a position of responsibility, who make decisions, to be able to do their job, having a financial reward when they do it well. Liability allowances and productivity bonuses are an important part of upgrading, improving the public sector.”

At the same time, Mr. Skertsos described dealing with the demographic problem as a “big challenge” and – as he said – “we must support the Greek family and we do it in every way”.

For accuracy, the Minister of State stated that “in order to be able to support the Greek family, the Greek household, the workers, the economy must be doing well. The benefits that are coming are the result of an increasingly strong economy”, while regarding the upgrading of the Greek economy by the investment house Fitch commented: “The recovery of the investment grade after 14 years. Only through additional growth can incomes and pensions increase. Greece is now becoming reliable”.

“For the first time in 14 years unemployment fell below 10%. What we say that we must converge in terms of income with the rest of Europe is slowly happening. And in terms of real disposable income, we are in 12th place in the EU”, the Minister of State emphasized.

“We have received a strong mandate to change the country. We must do this with moderation, with efficiency, with absolute respect for the vote and choice of citizens. Greece must close many outstanding issues of the past and become Europe at all levels”, concluded Mr. Skertsos.