“Is the government making reforms? The answer is obviously yes, but these do not occupy the public debate as much as they should, even though they are extremely important,” the Minister of State, responsible for monitoring government policies, emphasizes in a post on social media. Akis Schertsos.

As the minister points out:

“One of them was presented yesterday by Thodoris Livaniou and Vivi Charalamogiannis and was approved by the Council of Ministers. It concerns the radical revision of the way the public disciplinary councils operate and responds to a long-standing evil of the Greek state, that of the impunity of elected public servants “.

Then Mr. Schertsos asks the question “How many of us are not outraged when we learn about flagrant cases of violation of the code of civil servants that are brought to disciplinary boards and languish there for years, finally awarding “petty” punishments?”. To complete:

” The record of the Ministry of the Interior shows an average completion time of the disciplinary councils from 3 to 7 years!!! And the main reason is that until today these councils are treated as “extraordinary” by the members who staff them because they are carried out alongside the regular ones their duties in the public administration, hence the delays”.

As the minister points out, “The main change proposed by the bill is the creation of small-member full-time and exclusive disciplinary councils that will be staffed exclusively by State Legal Council officials, instead of the larger compositions we have today where there are even trade union representatives ».

At the same time, he says, a central digital register is being created to track the start and end of each case, to monitor the duration of its development and conclusion, remove unnecessary steps in the process and tighten penalties.

“The government’s goal is for the disciplinary proceedings to be completed in 3 months, so that the Greek public works with transparency, accountability, incentives and rewards for the many good public servants, but also real sanctions for the few who violate their oath. Until the end of the current term we will have reached this goal thanks to the set of policies implemented for the more efficient operation of the public sector with a focus on the needs of citizens, but also the development of the skills of civil servants” Mr. Schertz.