As the “completion of yet another reform, which has begun to be implemented in conjunction with all the other moves to digitize the state and better serve citizens”, the government spokesman described Pavlos Marinakis, the personal number ahead of the meeting under Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Maximou.

As Marinakis explained, “This is intended, in continuation of the new identity card that many of us have issued and I urge our listeners to do so, to be something that will be much more manageable for citizens, for their travel, for their other obligations. Greece and with this step and many others, the more than 1 500 new digital services, is modernising at all levels. And all these moves are not just effects, they are moves of substance that improve and make the everyday life of citizens easier, along with everything else that is being implemented, is being launched or has already been implemented.”

The government spokesman also responded to those who raise privacy and security issues saying “there is no such issue, because there is absolute compliance with every directive and regulation for the protection of personal data. Secondly, and to date, along with our data we had a number of numbers which referred to us. That is our ID number, our social security number, our VAT number, so I think this argument goes from being hollow to being completely unrealistic. There is no issue, no risk. It is something that is applied throughout Europe. So obviously I do not think it is worthwhile to continue to discuss it, in my opinion. It’s something that improves everyday life in the sense that it simplifies some procedures and it serves citizens beyond the passport for their travel and a number of other moves that they want to make.”

OPEKEPE

Pavlos Marinakis was also asked about OPEKEPE, on the occasion of the European Public Prosecutor’s investigation into the subsidies given, and noted that “this is not the first case and probably won’t be the last, where we see that with coordinated actions, in this case in cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor, but mainly with the actions of various services and separate bodies of the Greek Police, revealed circuits or, in any case, cases which for many years, in other cases, for some specific years, had not been revealed.

“We have seen cases that have operated around prisons, around tax offices, around the municipal police, many cases that we have seen that have been in the public eye, in urban planning departments. All of these, while they were operating in previous years, possibly operating under the nose of the departments, now seem to be getting the light of day, and those who are responsible are being brought to justice. Here, in this particular case, the Greek services of the Hellenic Police, the Internal Affairs Service, cooperated with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. On 19 May, a surprise inspection was carried out at the premises of the OPEKEPE, and some evidence was collected and taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. The case will, once the necessary checks have been carried out, be brought before the courts. What we have to say is that we will cooperate at all levels, as we have already started to do, not now, since last September 2024, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, because we want to ensure and there is no risk, the uninterrupted provision of subsidies to hundreds of thousands of farmers, who are entitled to them, “added the government spokesman.

He went on to add: “Every case that is solved and finally this is happening and finally we see and hear arrests either for violence in universities or economic crimes, should not only lead to justice being done, which is the obvious thing to do and is the job of the justice system, not the government, it should be a model of what went wrong and what we need to change and how this should not happen again. Because there is the dimension of corruption, the extent of which will be investigated by the judiciary and held accountable, and there is also the dimension of filters. The most typical example of this is e-prescriptions, where in recent years, very serious filters have begun to be introduced. You remember earlier announcements by the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiades, with typical cases of over-prescriptions. One difference is that extreme cases, cases that violate the law, are taken to court. Another dimension is that filters are now being put in place so that this does not happen and that the bell rings for the competent service, EDIKA, to alert the public prosecutor’s office and so those who were thinking of doing something like this should think ten times more because of the very serious sanctions that exist. So that’s what we’re going to do now.”

Asked how something had not come to the attention of the ministers, given that six presidents have changed at OPEKEPE in the last five years, Marinakis replied, “Public administration is complex, there is individual responsibility of each one, and there is, of course,e an overall responsibility of supervision. Mr Avgenakis, for example, issued a response that answered what concerned him in a specific publication. There is nothing at the moment that involves any of the political superiors. But in any case, it will be investigated by the judiciary, which of the officials was responsible and if they were responsible and in what capacity, is what is being investigated. That is, whether there was a defective audit, whether not everything was done, so that those who should not have received subsidies were examined, or whether there were some cases of officials, I do not know that, nor can I put them on the dock because we are not yet in the trial phase if there is no evidence, who did this fraudulently, that is, not just not doing their job well, but deliberately not doing their job well to facilitate others. That is, whether there were bad employees who did not do their jobs well or employees who fraudulently did what they did. That is something that at this point we need to know; the judiciary has to investigate. Certainly, however, it is the job of the government of ministers as the years go by to close these holes. Because these holes, in addition to the dimension of criminal law, of justice, have the dimension of the flow of resources, that is, the money of Europeans and Greek citizens is lost, which should go where it deserves to go, and people are entitled to receive it.

“This case, like any similar case, must lead, in addition to everything else we have already said so as not to be misunderstood, to the investigation of responsibilities and the immediate clarification of the reason for saving resources for those who deserve and are the vast majority,” the government spokesman concluded for OPEKEPE.

Tempi

Finally, about the proposal of the New Democracy for pre-investigation on the railway tragedy with the 57 dead in Tempi, Pavlos Marinakis noted that “because of the last change in the Constitution during the days of the New Democracy, with the vote of obviously other parties to be fair, there is no statute of limitations for any offense for ministers former ministers, such as Mr. Karamanlis from 19 and onwards, unlike Mr. Spirtzis who any discussion we have is paralysed because the beneficial provision has been applied and there is the application of the expiry period, so it is time-barred, so it has no meaning, as you understand.”

“Now, from there onwards to be patient very few days, we are talking about this week, the New Republic will submit a proposal, which has never happened before, the parliamentary group, not because it believes that this must lead to conviction, but because it believes that at the end of the day the natural judges, in this case the Judicial Council, after all the legal procedures of Parliament have been followed and our Members of Parliament have decided, must finally judge in this dimension and not with party glasses, but only with the filter of justice what the responsibilities of individuals are. And to say here, this is of value to the people, that there is an opportunity for the natural judges, that is, the Judicial Council who are supreme judges, firstly, to examine the offences, secondly, to examine the persons and thirdly, to examine who are the witnesses who they think should possibly testify. In short, as we did in a similar previous case with Mr. Triandopoulos, adhering to all the legal procedures, we give the floor at the end of the day, there will be a series of procedures provided and decisions of the House that we cannot prejudge, we give the floor to those who are impartial, to those who have no party charge concerning the administration of justice or party motives, which are the natural judges, “concluded the government spokesman.