Reform… The government is expected to accelerate its reforms by the end of this year, implementing four reforms per month. It’s not just that it wants to be consistent with what was decided at last July’s Cabinet meeting, where the decision was made to have 25 reforms by the end of the year. It’s also that, as the list below will show, these reforms affect various areas of everyday life.

In particular – as noted by government sources – “despite being now in its seventh year, the government continues to produce work and promote reforms that address economic, administrative and social problems.”

Besides, “Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has always attached great importance to the so-called positive agenda and reforms. He is a prime minister who is focused on delivering results and implementing what he has promised. This, after all, is his great comparative advantage over all other political leaders,” the same sources underlined.

The burden of coordinating the implementation of these 25 reforms is borne by Vice President Kostis Hatzidakis and State Minister Akis Skertos. “It is well known that both are committed to the reforms and both believe strongly in the need for the government to stick to the positive agenda regardless of the political situation,” these government sources also said.

On the substance of the reforms, now, it is significant that in the last Ministerial Council, the first three issues dealt with three of the 25 reforms announced.

The first was on the implementation of the measures announced by the Prime Minister at the DETH. The second was the Ministry of National Defence bill on the new institutional framework for the functioning of the army and the members of the Armed Forces, a “very important reform”.

The third reform was the bill to ease the conditions for legal immigration to Greece, a bill that followed an earlier legislative initiative to tighten rules on illegal immigration.

Major reforms underway

In addition, since July, the most important of the 25 reforms that have been pushed forward are:

– The strategy for the promotion of Greek exports, at a meeting of the GAC on September 3.

– The opening of non-state universities

– The implementation of the new disciplinary code for civil servants with faster disciplinary procedures and stricter sanctions has been approved.

– The new framework of regulations and sanctions for dealing with violence in public universities has been implemented.

– Several mobile health units with diagnostic tests have been launched and are already operating in all small communities across the country.

– The bill to simplify the business environment was presented. As part of this, over 50 EISs for simplification of licensing are being reviewed based on the suggestions of the business community.

At the same time, other reforms are underway, including:

– The organisational reform of the railway sector.

– The digitisation of the judiciary.

– Modernisation of the CAP allocation framework (reform of the subsidy scheme).

– The technological upgrade of the National Police.

While for the others, the relevant bills are being prepared and drafted to be submitted to the Parliament by the end of the year. Finally, it is worth noting that the reform of urban planning authorities will also be presented in the coming days.