Mr. Marinakis referred to the Prime Minister’s participation in Emmanuel Macron’s conference on Ukraine, stressing that Mr. Mitsotakis made it clear that there is no question of sending NATO European forces inside Ukraine.

At the EU Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers, all states agreed on the need to revise the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and submitted proposals, said government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis.

In particular, Mr. Marinakis said that the revision of the CAP will take place before the European elections.

Regarding the tragedy in Tempe and the one-year anniversary tomorrow, the government spokesman said that “our support for the families of the victims in Tempe is taken for granted.”

Referring to the intervention of the Supreme Court regarding the complaints of the relatives of the victims in Tempi, Mr. Marinakis replied that “we must agree that we should let the judiciary do its work without interruption and not intervene when we do not like the decisions her.

“The fact that he judges at the moment that further investigation needs to be done has nothing to do with the resolution on Greece in the European Parliament.” he said when asked about it.

“Those who claim that the resolution is related to the decision of the Supreme Court are trying to make politics over human suffering.”

On Thursday at 11, the cabinet will meet under the Prime Minister, informed the government representative.

Asked if the Prime Minister will go to Tirana today, Mr. Marinakis answered in the negative.

Regarding the new Penal Code and the opposition’s reactions, Mr. Marinakis emphasized that “I would be ashamed to talk about the Penal Code if I were in SYRIZA. For example, the rape of minors, they voted to reduce the penalty and they are not ashamed, while the same is true for homicide where we reinstated life sentences while SYRIZA had lowered the penalty to 15 years.”

The entire opening statement of Pavlos Marinakis:

The Prime Minister went to Paris yesterday to participate in the conference organized by the President of France Emmanuel Macron on the support of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said in his statements: “I believe that we have reaffirmed our unity and our determination to support Ukraine so that it can defend itself in the best possible way against the Russian invasion. I think we have reached a framework that does not deviate particularly from the decisions we have taken in the European Council on how this aid can, in a practical way, have a more substantial and useful result for Ukraine.”

He also assured in the clearest way that there is no question of sending European NATO forces inside Ukraine.

It should be noted that by decision of the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairides, the validity of the temporary protection regime for those displaced from Ukraine in our country is extended.

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The Governmental National Security Council met yesterday under the Prime Minister. Following a proposal by the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias, Greece’s participation in the “Aspides” operation for the protection of free navigation in the Red Sea region was approved.

KYSEA was informed by the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, regarding the course of immigration, the great reduction in immigration flows and the gradual decongestion of the National Reception System. According to the data presented by the Minister, the number of people staying in the hospitality structures of the Eastern Aegean islands has decreased by more than 25% compared to the beginning of January.

The decrease in flows concerns the sea border mainly in the south-eastern Aegean where a very large improvement is observed as the flows in the Evros have been minimized.

The Ministry of Migration and Asylum is closely monitoring the flow that has been observed from the southeastern coast of Libya.

Following a proposal by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilia, it was decided to modify the “Aegis” Plan, for the supply of 300 new vehicles for the forestry services.

The AEGIS program, with a total amount of 2.1 billion, is progressing at a rapid pace. Projects of 800 million euros have already been tendered, of which the tenders amounting to 700 million went live in the last 6 months of 2023. These are the procurement of aircraft, helicopters, floating means of rescue and transport, fire engines, drones, etc.

As the Minister has emphasized, the goal is to have the entire AEGIS program announced in tenders by the end of March.

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The Electronic Platform for pensioners’ declaration of employment was opened yesterday. Pensioners who wish to work from now on will receive 100% of their pension from the 70% they received until now.

This is a substantial improvement in the income of working pensioners. Now our working retired fellow citizens will be able to collect their pension in full, while there will be a withholding of 10% on their salary. In fact, this withholding will gradually lead to an increase in their pension. This implies additional income for each working pensioner that can reach up to 3,500 euros per year.

It is noted that certain population groups are excluded from the withholding of 10% on EFKA salaries such as: people with a mental disability, those receiving the extra-institutional allowance, those with many children and pensioners due to disability.

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At yesterday’s Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers of the European Union, all states agreed on the need to revise the current CAP and submitted their proposals.

The President of the Council pledged that the revision would take place with the current composition of the European Parliament, that is, before the European elections.

Greece came to the negotiation with a comprehensive proposal for structural changes to the CAP, which is summarized in 19 specific proposals aimed at:

– To simplify, facilitate and speed up the control procedures,

– to accelerate the negotiation of the CAP Strategic Plan,

– to simplify the procedures for its individual amendments,

– to simplify the application of the so-called ecological schemes,

– flexibility in the redistribution of unused funds and

– in the simplification of the procedures for dealing with the effects in cases of extreme weather phenomena and fires, by creating a permanent mechanism and utilizing 2% of each country’s CAP.

The leadership of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food pledged to continue with the same determination to adopt more technical improvements as well as structural changes in the new CAP.

At the initiative of Greece, the Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Mediterranean countries that make up the EU MED-9 group also met.

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A major initiative to speed up justice and free up judicial officers and police personnel is moving forward with the launch of digital service of criminal documents. Specifically, the performances will be done digitally

of criminal orders,

of the decisions of Eyewitnesses and

of witness calls.

This is an important service, with which bureaucracy is reduced and the level of protection of citizens’ data is upgraded, as the performance will be done immediately electronically.

In addition, this reform frees up a significant number of judicial officers and police personnel who have been tasked with this task. By digitizing the performance of these three criminal documents, which annually reach approximately 170,000, it is expected to free up approximately 1/3 of the police personnel currently employed in performance. It is estimated that an average of 670 police officers are required per day. Indicatively, in 2023, almost 1,200,000 criminal, civil, administrative and military documents were served.

In the first phase, the digital performances will start from the Athens Prosecutor’s Office.

For the first time after 14 years, new recruitments will be made for the staffing of the Municipal Police.

The announcement concerns the filling of 1,213 permanent staff positions, a number that arose after the submission of corresponding requests in which the Municipalities proceeded, following an invitation from the Ministry of the Interior.

As the responsible Minister Niki Kerameos emphasized: “Our main concern is to constantly improve the services that citizens receive. In this context, we are implementing the staffing of the Municipal Police, for the first time after 14 years, through a purely meritorious and completely impartial process under the A.S.E.P., in order to assist the Municipalities in the demanding work that is about improving the daily life of their citizens”.

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The online platform for submitting applications for child benefit opened yesterday and will remain open until March 11. The amount entitled will be calculated based on the dependent children declared on the application for this year 2024 and the total family income that the beneficiaries had in the tax year 2022.

After submitting the current year’s Income Tax Return, the income of the tax year 2023 will be taken into account for the calculation of the eligible amount.

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20 new Municipalities joined the school meals program, half of which are Municipalities of Thessaly affected by the extreme weather phenomenon “Daniel”. At the same time, the number of meals in the Municipalities which are proven to have increased needs is increased.

The total budget of the program amounts to 350 million euros. to ensure the daily provision of school meals to more than 231 thousand students out of 217 thousand that the program currently supports.

In the program, after a strict prioritization of needs based on specific criteria, the municipalities of Almyro, Zagora-Mouresi, South Pelion, Agia, Killeler, Tempo, Farkadona, Palama, Mouzaki and Pyli were added to the Thessaly region.

At the same time, the number of meals provided to schools in the municipalities of Volos, Larissa, Trikkaia, Karditsa, Elassona, Farsala, Tyrnavos and Sofados is increasing.

The Prime Minister is meeting with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan today.

On Thursday, February 29, at 11:00, the Council of Ministers will meet under the Prime Minister at Megaros Maximos. A new announcement will follow regarding the topics of the meeting.