Digital skills of civil servants a priority

The issue of civil servants’ digital skills will become more urgent in the near future, Interior Minister Makis Voridis told the Olympia Forum III on Thursday. 

Voridis pointed out that the application of technology by companies to improve their competitiveness will affect the Greek civil service’s ability to keep up with its regulatory role, a gap that will eventually become a serious problem. 

“If this disparity continues to grow and turns into a chasm, public administration will not be able to handle its regulatory role at the speeds demanded by the private sector,” the minister told the conference, which is organized by the Delphi Economic Forum and Patris newspaper. 

“This may create a political issue, making public administration seem like a deadweight to economic growth,” he added. 

Programs such as those being developed with Microsoft are among the options for dealing with the issue, he said, also noting funding sources for skill upgrades in Greece.