Minister pushes on for further digital reforms

Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis has succeeded in moving much of the business between Greek citizens and the state online, eliminating the once notorious, and slow-moving, queues in state agencies and much of the delay in processing requests and applications.

Transactions on the gov.gr website rose from about 8 million in 2018, a year before Pierrakakis was appointed to his post, to over 1 billion in 2022, with two months remaining.

Still, Pierrakakis says, much needs to be done towards the country’s, and not just the state’s digital transformation. He has focused on three immediate priorities: digitally available and accessible medical histories, including on everyone’s cellphone; the option to found a company from home, without visiting state agency offices; and bringing fiberoptic online connections to 120,000 buildings.

All three projects will get started before Christmas, he says.