Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance, in his speech at the conference, focused on the axis of the “digital transformation” of the state and the government’s efforts, and stressed that New Democracy is a force for modernization, efficiency and institutional change. The central message of Papastergiou’s speech was that Greece has changed substantially since 2019, acquiring a more modern, fast and citizen-friendly state. He then described the creation of a public administration that will not inconvenience the citizen and will not treat him with suspicion as a key objective, while he said that the new model of the state must operate on the basis that “the citizen is right in the first place”, as opposed to the past where the citizen was constantly obliged to prove the obvious through time-consuming procedures and bureaucracy.
Papastergiou placed particular emphasis on gov.gr, which he described as the most visible example of the changes in public administration. According to the data provided by the Minister of Digital Governance, today the platform has 2,250 digital services, while in April alone 1.2 million affidavits and 758 thousand authorizations were issued, thus avoiding almost two million physical visits of citizens to public services. Special mention was also made of e-prescription and digital health services, with 8.7 million online prescriptions and hundreds of thousands of online appointments through the MyHealth app. At the same time, he presented as a major innovation the use of artificial intelligence in the issuance of criminal records, where – as he said – more than half of the applications are now completed directly through “intelligent algorithms”.
Referring to technology, Papastergiou said that digitalisation is a “tool of equality”, as the same digital state serves citizens from Evros to Crete in the same way. At the same time, he stressed that New Democracy is a liberal party that “is not afraid of change” and can even talk about artificial intelligence and space technology at a party conference.
Papastergiou concluded his speech by projecting his vision for “Greece 2030”, which he said is a fast, transparent, humane and efficient state that uses technology not as an end in itself but as a means of improving everyday life and strengthening trust between the citizen and the state.
