Mitsotakis: Our Responsibility to Boost Family Incomes Through Free, Quality Education Support

In his weekly review, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis refers to the 11 changes being introduced this year in education to provide free, equal and free access to all students across Greece.

“We must support family income with free, quality supplementary education,” Mitsotakis said from New York, where he is in New York for the UN General Assembly.
From New York, New York, New York, New York, New York.

He made a special reference to the Digital Tutoring Center, where he attended the first lesson, where “4,000 simultaneous connections were recorded, indicative of the importance and acceptance of this action.”

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Good morning from New York, where I am here ahead of the United Nations General Assembly. The program…

Posted by Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday, September 21, 2024

The weekly review of Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Good morning from New York, where I am in the run-up to the United Nations General Assembly. The schedule includes other meetings, and of course I will be meeting with the Greek community, but let me not get ahead of myself – we will discuss that next week!

So I’ll start today’s review with the Digital Tutorial, where I had the pleasure of attending the first class held this past week! This lesson recorded 4,000 simultaneous connections, indicative of the importance and acceptance of this activity. In the first phase, remedial teaching is being offered for 11 subjects in the national examinations of the General High School and the National High School with the assistance of 79 teachers. In its full development, live tele-education will cover 45 subjects, with the possibility of support in sign language. In addition, the on-demand part of the Digital Tutorial will include 2,500 taped videos covering the entire curriculum for 49 subjects, from primary school to high school. Currently, the lessons of Modern Greek Language and Mathematics are covered for all grades of high school. Most importantly, children will be able to send questions to teachers about anything that they find difficult.

It’s one of 11 changes being introduced this year to education, offering free, equal and free access to all students across the country. It is our duty to support family incomes with free, quality supplementary education. I also consider the commitment to ban the use of mobile phones at school to be very important. The mobile phone must remain in the bag during lessons and I believe we all understand that this primarily helps children, the learning process and their socialisation. We are thinking of supplying schools with lockers – tentatively at first – so that students can lock their cell phones and take them when they leave.

The second topic for today, is additional good news concerning the “My House 2” program that we are launching from next January with a total of €2 billion of European funds. Let me remind you that with this program, some 20,000 of our fellow citizens aged 25 to 50 will be able to own their own home, essentially paying a mortgage installment lower than what they would pay for rent for a similar house. So what have we announced this week is that we will provide two new facilities for those who want to apply: first, we are widening the perimeter of beneficiaries over three years, meaning that not only those who met the income criteria in 2023 will be eligible, but also those who met them on average over three years. Secondly, the pre-approval will be valid until the available resources are exhausted, that is, it will not expire a few months later, as was the case in the first ‘My House’ program, under which – let me remind you here – almost 10 000 loans were approved and more than 7 500 have already been disbursed to our fellow citizens who have acquired their own homes. “My House 2” has even more favorable provisions for three-parent families, large families, and single-parent families.

To support the family we have also implemented – as you know – the “Neighbourhood Nannies” program, which is currently being piloted in 62 municipalities across the country. It concerns – I remind you – the care of children up to 2.5 years of age by childminders who meet certain criteria. Since the launch of the program in December 2023, until today, agreements have been signed with 855 parents, 918 children have benefited and 784 curators have been employed. The Hellenic Society for Local Development and Local Government has paid the compensation to the 1,238 beneficiaries of the program by Friday, as we had committed, and €100 million have been secured through the NSRF for the full implementation of the programme throughout Greece. The eight-hour guarding service is compensated with 500 euros and the half-time service with 300 euros, together with the employee’s work stamp which is an additional incentive for the “Nannies”.

We want the support policy for the young family that we are planning to be an additional incentive for Greeks abroad to return and work in Greece, taking advantage of the investment and employment opportunities offered by economic growth. Through the tax incentives we have introduced, such as the 50% reduced income tax for 7 years, and the new housing programs, we want to give young people the opportunity to build their future at home. And as it turns out, these policies are working, as the news is more than encouraging. According to a survey by the National Documentation Centre and SEVE, 1 in 4 businesses surveyed, i.e. 400 out of 1600 businesses, have hired Greeks who have repatriated in the last three years. An indicative example of hiring well-paid compatriots who have returned is the contractors of the microsatellite program that the Ministry of Digital Governance is implementing with resources from the Recovery Fund and will be built here in Greece, based in Athens. Let me remind you that according to EUROSTAT data from last March, some 350,000 Greeks from abroad have been repatriated out of the 680,000 who left during the economic crisis, as estimated by the BoE.

I am very insistent on the issues that shape the so-called “culture of everyday life”. One such flagship reform implemented in our previous term is the anti-smoking legislation that bans smoking in enclosed eating places. This is a collective achievement that we all achieved together and must under no circumstances be allowed to falter. Checks by mixed teams from the ELAS, the Transparency Authority and the Ministry of Health are again intensive. Indeed, in the past few days, 15 fines were imposed on catering businesses in the center of Athens, in Thiseio and Monastiraki, which did not comply with the legislation. Smoking in enclosed public places is a harmful and anti-social habit that must be confronted by all of us.

The next issue also addresses the “culture of everyday life”. An additional 20 new buses have been added to the fleet serving the transport needs of Eastern Attica, bringing the total number of new vehicles to 50. These vehicles were acquired as part of the international tender of OASA for the concession of a transport project, are equipped with modern systems, are environmentally friendly and significantly improve the conditions of travel to and from the eastern areas of the basin, with more frequent services, greater reliability and better services. Along with the supply of the new buses, we have also proceeded with the complete refurbishment of older decommissioned vehicles and thus, 10 vehicles are back on the streets of Athens. The strengthening of public transport will continue, as our goal is to continuously improve transport for all citizens, with an emphasis on quality, safety and environmental protection.

Let me turn to the new Judicial Charter, a historic reform that went into effect last Monday with the start of the new Judicial Year. As I told you, our goal is to reduce the time it takes to administer justice, which in our country is unacceptably long. Let me remind you briefly of what we are doing: We are consolidating the Magistrates’ Courts and the District Courts, abolishing the old, complex procedure that significantly delayed the issuing of judgments, with serious social and economic consequences. This is a century-long effort. But we did it. The approximately 950 former Magistrates will next semester attend free training seminars from the School of Magistrates so that they can gradually be used to hear all first-instance cases. The “Kallikrates” of Justice – because that is what it is essentially about – will allow the rational distribution of judges and judicial employees to 113 judicial formations (instead of the more than 200 that operated until recently) in the territory, with special provisions for island and border regions. The new architecture of the area, which includes new positions for judges and court officials, institutional changes to the Codes, and digitization at all stages, is expected to be completed within 2026.

We are under no illusion that we have foreseen everything and provided solutions to everything. Obviously, there are and will be issues, which we must address or even revisit. A special team has been set up in the Ministry of Justice to provide answers to questions, comments, and observations from all the Courts, Prosecutors’ Offices, and Bar Associations in the country and then post them for all to see.
Staying in the area of the Judiciary, I should mention that we are getting the first very satisfactory results from the transfer of court materials to lawyers. Since the day the legislation was implemented, about 10,000 cases involving non-adversarial matters (establishment of associations, registrations, cancellations of mortgages and issuance of probate) have been transferred from judges to lawyers for resolution and about 125,000 affidavits have been issued. This means relief of workload from judges, substantial strengthening of the legal profession and speedy service to citizens.

I will continue with the launching of the frigate “Nearchos” at the Naval Group shipyards in Lorient, France. She is the second of three Belharra frigates that our Navy will acquire, enhancing its operational capability. The frigate “Kimon” is already under construction and will be delivered in 2025, followed by “Formion”. As we announced on Thursday, we will start negotiations for the acquisition of a fourth Belharra frigate. The modernization of the Armed Forces by 2030 is one of the most important components of the national effort for a Strong Greece, capable of meeting the increased security and stability requirements in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Our government and I believe most of the world, firmly believes that sport unites and should not divide. That is why we have taken bold measures to tackle violence, but also self-evident measures to improve our sports facilities, our training facilities and school sports. For the first time in Greece, a digital mapping of Greek sport has been carried out through the e-Kouros platform. 6,969 sports clubs from all sports have been identified, so any citizen visiting the platform will be able to find data on the entire sports ecosystem (federations, clubs, athletes, coaches). In short, e-Kouros will be the “ORGAN” of sport, capturing to the full every sector, from professional to amateur.
A revolutionary self-evident was the implementation of the new regulation imposing one legal fan club per team, to reduce the incidents of violence on the pitches. In the first meeting of the leadership of the Ministry of Sports with representatives of the 8 recognized fan clubs of AEK, Aris, Olympiacos, Olympiacos, OFI, Panathinaikos, Pancerraikos, PAOK and Hercules, the framework for the measures needed to return normality to the stadiums and to see fans of both teams in the stands again, even in derbies. We want open stadiums, without the violence and the pathologies that over the years have kept families and friends away from the stands. Together we can do it.

I will close today’s review with the “new light” emitted by the Temple of Neptune in Sounion, one of the most emblematic landmarks of our country. The impressive new lighting of the ancient structure highlights its unique geometry and its rocky terrain from every angle, whether we see it from the sea or from the land. Once again, bravo to all those who contributed: to Eleftheria Decault and her team, to the Ministry of Culture, to the Ephorate of Antiquities and especially warm thanks to Metlen and Evangelos Mytilineos for their generous sponsorship, so that the project could be realized. I suggest you visit the Temple, I am sure you will be impressed.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that on Tuesday three Greek antiquities that were removed from our country at an unknown time were repatriated from Atlanta, USA. They are a part of a marble tombstone, a part of an Attic funerary temple, and a bronze statue of a young man. The return of Greek antiquities found abroad is a matter of great importance for the country and I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Culture for its actions.

So that’s it for this week. See you next Sunday!

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