“The prime minister visited the emergency department (ED) of the Hagia Sophia Children’s Hospital, where renovation and upgrading projects amounting to 1.26 million euros are being implemented as part of the wider program for the construction of model EDs and the upgrading of public health structures” , the government spokesman said Pavlos Marinakis starting to inform political editors.

“At the “Agia Sophia” hospital, spaces of 1,080 square meters have already been renovated and delivered.” He reiterated, as the Prime Minister emphasized, that “the National Health System is changing. Without hiding the many problems we inherited, we have a three-year strategic plan that will allow us to make very important interventions in infrastructure, such as those launched by the Recovery Fund, to also make the most of private donations.”

He then moved on to the plenary session of the 3rd Ukraine Southeast Europe Summit held in Dubrovnik in which the Prime Minister participated yesterday. He pointed out that during his intervention he underlined the importance of the continuation of this initiative which was first undertaken by Greece and referred to the Prime Minister’s remark that the war in Ukraine concerns the whole world. He also said that the Ukraine peace conference “confirmed broad support for a just peace in the country” and stressed that “the geopolitical situation and the security situation in Europe make enlargement imperative and called on candidate countries to uphold fundamental European values and to implement the required reforms for their accession perspective”.

He also referred to the Prime Minister’s meeting, on the sidelines of the Synod, with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Mr. Mitsotakis reiterated Greece’s firm support for Ukraine. “During its duration, progress was discussed regarding the conclusion of a bilateral agreement on the multilateral support of Ukraine, its reconstruction and its accession perspective, on the model of corresponding agreements already concluded with Ukraine by 19 EU member states.”

Mr. Marinakis then stated that “the ranking of the Athens Stock Exchange was upgraded by FTSE Russell with the aim of returning it to the category of developed markets. As the Minister of National Economy and Finances, Kostis Hatzidakis, emphasized: “This success is a result of the positive developments in the economy, the prospects that are opening up, but also the specific successful moves of the government in the field of privatizations”.

He added that “rewarding the positive course of the Athens Stock Exchange means increasing the inflow of investments, bringing new capital into Greece, facilitating the financing of businesses and consequently healthier entrepreneurship, factors that significantly contribute to the realization of our commitment to more and better paid positions work.

Our goal is to improve the country’s economy in such a way that this improvement has a positive impact on the pockets of Greek citizens”, he stressed.

The submission to Parliament of the bill of the Ministry of the Interior for the acceleration of recruitment through A.S.E.P., the incentive and reward system for civil servants and other provisions to improve the functioning of the public administration, was the next topic of the briefing. He also underlined that, “for the first time, the State will acquire a human resources management information system”.

He also detailed the incentive system by analyzing what it provides.

“The purchase of a new type Canadair firefighting aircraft was included in the “Civil Protection 2021-2027″ Program of the NSRF,” continued the government representative. “The new Canadair is expected to help increase the operational capability of the country’s aerial firefighting fleet, as these aircraft are used in all phases of forest firefighting and provide comparative advantages such as the ability to carry a larger payload of water or retardant, longer flight time and modern shipping systems. Additionally, due to their greater autonomy, they can repeat the process of dropping water or retardant foam without returning to base for refueling,” he said. “As the climate crisis deepens and we see its effects every day around the world, we must be more and more prepared every year.”

He also stated that “on Tuesday, October 1st, the payments of grants to support businesses affected by natural disasters in 2023 were completed. These are the special support schemes implemented through the AADE platform, “my business support”, and concern to businesses located in areas of the Region of Thessaly that were affected by the intense floods of September and in areas of the Region of Evros that were affected by the fires of August 2023, and which suffered financial losses as an indirect consequence of the above phenomena”.

Moving on to the next issue, he pointed out that “in an exemplary manner and with increased participation of children, disabled people and the elderly, the camp program of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family worked and was completed a few days ago. The budget of the program was increased to 4,000,000 euros, from 3,650,000 euros that had been allocated last year, and it concerned both the operation of the 14 children’s camps and the preparation for the 2025 program. In addition, for the first time, advance funds were allocated funds to the municipalities, to plan the operation of the campsites for the following year”.

Concluding his introductory statement, Mr. Marinakis said that “the prime minister is going tomorrow, October 11, to Paphos, where he will participate in the work of the MED9 Summit. It is an important Summit, given the latest developments in the Middle East, while it is the first meeting of European leaders ahead of next week’s European Council Summit.”