By Penelope Galliou

Committed to continuing the reforms and focusing on improving everyday life and solving the issues that make it difficult, the government is proceeding with the plan it had drawn up in the pre-election period as well as receiving the message of the recent European elections for speed and efficiency.

The embarrassment and discomfort caused by the intra-party shots mainly of Antonis Samaras, but also the milder ones of Kostas Karamanlis, for a series of government choices and policies, may not have caused a direct reaction from Megaros Maximos, however, the almost simultaneous with the speeches of of two former prime ministers, a visit by Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the on-call of the People’s Hospital, is the practical answer to the government’s priorities. “What concerns the citizens are the everyday life and the problems that the citizens face” commented a government source, arguing that the criticisms against its politicians have more of an ideological starting point.

The importance of continuing the reforms was mentioned by the prime minister during the discussion he had with the former prime minister of Italy and president of the Jacques Delors Institute, Enrico Letta in the framework of the 28th annual “Economist Government Roundtable” conference. “I am a convinced reformer and we got this mandate. We must focus on reforms with a measurable result” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stating at the same time that he received the message of the European elections which “as he said was ‘get to work and achieve the results you committed to’.

Mr. Mitsotakis underlined that the goal of the next four years is to close the gap with Europe while he determined the next elections in 2027, at the end of the four years.

Under these circumstances, today the Prime Minister, continuing the barrage of visits to critical ministries whose policies have a direct impact on the citizen, will be in the morning at 10, at the Ministry of Health to participate in a meeting with the leadership of the ministry in question in order to be informed by the political leadership about the events, but also the problems and outstanding issues in the Health sector. A visit that follows the surprise visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the People’s Hospital, where he met with the Management and the employees, while he also had the opportunity to talk to the patients and listen to their problems.

Problems, some of which stem from understaffing and shortages recorded in the health sector in medical and nursing staff, for which the prime minister is expected to request greater speed and acceleration of the procedures that will provide solutions. After all, the government is already promoting the reform and changes in ASEP, which will reduce recruitment times, which will have a direct impact on the Health sector as well.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis has repeatedly pointed out that citizens deserve a better NHS, with equal access. In this context, a series of reforms have been announced, the timetables of which are expected to concern today’s meeting as well.