ND chief pledges to digitally transform state

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed to digitally reform and transform the Greek state when he comes to power.

Speaking on Monday at the Digital Economy Forum 2018 of the Federation of Hellenic Information Technology & Communications Enterprises (SEPE), Mitsotakis accused the government of reversing the progress of the country’s digital technology sector, which includes 8,000 businesses that contribute 8 percent to Greece’s GDP.

He also slammed the leftist-led government for not having a digital vision and for freezing digital projects that had begun before 2015.

“Projects are not being implemented,” he said

In a tweet, Administrative Reform Minister Olga Gerovasili dismissed Mitsotakis’s comments saying that the only relationship he has with the digital state “is the algorithm for redundancies, which he constantly upgrades.”

For his part, US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt told the forum that he believes technology will help Greece’s financial recovery.

He stressed, however, that the government needs to proceed with reforms, and he invited businessmen to accompany him next month to the United States to showcase Greece’s prospects.