Patient with the immobility caused by last month’s accident in Naxos, Kyriakos Pierrakakis keeps his laptop and tablet in front of him at all times. Normal walking will take a few more weeks, but he says his biggest concern is that the projects he has scheduled at the ministry for the last quarter of the year are not delayed. In an interview he gave to K, he spoke about these projects, as well as the central role of digital transformation in the future of Greece.

He also referred to the “gray” aspects of the current – now pre-election – current affairs, which, however, are not able to limit his optimism. Meanwhile, he refers to the next steps in the development of gov.gr, which out of 8 million citizen-to-government digital transactions in 2018 has now reached over 1 billion transactions by 2022. The goal is within the next 4 years to fix, simplify and digitize all state procedures as part of the implementation of the Mitos program. The completion of the digital transformation, according to Mr. Pierrakakis, will provide the country with the resources to address economic and security challenges from a position of superiority.

– I was in Naxos for the presentation of the smart island program, where Amazon selected the island for the global launch of applications that are part of the Internet of Things. It includes applications for telemedicine, education and quality of life. A few hours after the presentation, I had an accident on the way to the hotel. He required double surgery on his knee and ankle. Now the recovery period has begun. After a few days that I had to stay at home, I go back to the ministry every day. The work did not stop. At the Ministry of Digital Governance, we are promoting the idea that everything can work digitally. So I worked from home. The pace of the project has not slowed down.

– Yes. There are three main ones. Patient file, opening a sole proprietorship from home, fiber to 120,000 buildings. All three start right before Christmas. First, the patient card means that examinations in more than 70 hospitals and hundreds of diagnostic centers will be available on our mobile phone and in my health on gov.gr. And doctors will be able to access these tests. The number of participating hospitals and diagnostic centers will gradually increase, while the complete digital healthcare transformation project, covering all aspects of public health, will be auctioned by Christmas, so that the full digitalization of hospitals and primary health care – NHS – is completed, we I would say in general. Secondly, personal presence is no longer required to create an IP. Before Christmas this will be done digitally on gov.gr. Third, the platform is open to subsidizing 120,000 buildings up to €1,000 each for fiber installation.

All individual documents will have a place in the wallet. my car (CTEO certificate, driver’s license and insurance), ring card, national disability certificate, unemployment card.

– All individual documents will have a place in the wallet. The wallet is becoming more and more the identity of a citizen: any personality, after an identity card and a diploma, will be in the wallet. Examples? My car (with CTEC certificate, driver’s license and insurance). Added ring map, national disability map, unemployment map. At the same time, we continue to add new services to gov.gr.

I would like to add that the digital transformation de facto imposes conditions for transparency and accountability, improving the work of the public sector from this point of view as well.

– As the fourth industrial revolution develops, the position of all countries on the map of world production is changing. Greece can qualify for a new position, provided that it continues the path of digital transformation and the creation of an investment-friendly environment. And, of course, digital transformation is also about defense and national security. Shortly before the Battle of Salamis, Themistocles interpreted the Oracle of Delphi by saying that the wooden walls were ships. By analogy, wooden walls, the armor of our time, are digital walls. It’s not just that all new defensive armor systems have a strong digital aspect. Basically, digital transformation is a strategy that touches everything.

– Major projects of the Ministry of Digital Governance are included in the Digital Transformation book. And these projects are mostly financed from the Recovery Fund. One such project is the digitization of documents and information systems in the judiciary. A new system for registering criminal records, administrative and criminal proceedings is already up for auction, as well as a new digital transcription system. You can also mention the digital systems of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will be put up for auction in the next few weeks, including encryption systems. The auction also includes cybersecurity projects for the entire state, as well as projects relating to the general functioning of the Greek state and related to each ministry. Each of them is aimed at increasing the productivity of public sector workers, reducing the number of hours that every Greek citizen spends behind the counters.

– I’ll start with the remote interrogation of witnesses in the local courts of the country. That is, not to go to the place of each court if you live, for example, on a remote island, but to be able to testify from the local police station. This pilot project starts immediately. Also, in a few weeks, the old ad for free Wi-Fi in every square is starting to become a reality as every municipality in the country has announced squares and we will make sure there is free Wi-Fi there. Finally, we are upgrading KEP in every corner of our country – both functionally and digitally – in collaboration with municipal governments.

How we managed to become a hub for data centers

– And yet the end of the bureaucracy is visible before us. See progress. For example, the allocation of pensions has been greatly accelerated by the cooperation of the project team responsible for the vaccination program with the Ministry of Labor. With gov.gr as the main lever, in 2022 we are approaching 1 billion transactions as a country from just 8.8 million in all of 2018. The 2018 annual result today happens in about four days. And due to all the launched projects, we will be able to simplify and digitize almost all interactions between a citizen and business with the state. So, progress is great, but yes, we are not finished yet.

– In other words, you want another four years to get us out of the “bureaucratic labyrinth.” By the way, will you be a candidate in the next election? The script for the ND press representative was heard. in the elections, and therefore a candidate on the state ballot and another candidate in Athens A’. What applies;

The Prime Minister has proven that he means what he says. By choosing to hold elections at the end of a four-year period, he showed that the country should not lose a single day in the election campaign. Now we are focused on the production of government work. We are still in the cybernetic phase and we will have a good portion of our tenure in the coming months to do real work like the one I have described to you. As we get closer to election time, we will have an opportunity to talk about election options. Any response to them will be given in due course.

Is everything finally changing or are we exaggerating? Doesn’t really change anything? Because it’s not just a number…

– In practice, much is changing in all aspects of public life thanks to the general reform work of the government and the personal vision of the prime minister. But a number is not only a number in the narrow sense. This is a paradigm shift for our state and for our country. If in 2018 we were talking in the hall about the fact that there will be a pandemic and that a national vaccination system needs to be created, and that Bavaria, Massachusetts and Greece are going to make an effort, we would ask the audience: “Which of the three will work?”, how many Raise your eyebrows? Hand to say “Greek”? And still. The Greek program worked from the very beginning. Thus, Greece became a country that inspires stability, completely changing the image that existed 10 years ago.

“Indeed, the Greek vaccination program was an international success and gov.gr marks a change of era. However, I don’t know if I share your optimism…

“But why do you insist on being a pessimist? Pure pessimism inhibits creativity. Churchill said, “I’m an optimist because there’s no point in being anyone else.” But I am not an optimist just because there is no point in being pessimistic. I’m optimistic because reality has confirmed us. When we took over, the country was on the US 301 list, on the negative list, because the government was using pirated software. We took Greece off the list, and a few months later the Prime Minister met with Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith in Davos and convinced him to invest in Greece. In three years, Microsoft, Amazon, Google will be here. Greece has become the center of data servers.

We turn failure into a lesson

– Firstly, since 2017, ELTA has not been under the supervision of the Ministry of Digital Governance in terms of its activities. The Ministry has jurisdiction over legislative and regulatory matters related to the postal sector only and has no legal control over the decisions of D.S. ELTA in relation to the day-to-day operation of the Organization, nor does it define its administration. The Superfund, which is a shareholder of ELTA, immediately took the necessary action, and of course the government as a whole on the issue that you are asking me about. But it is worth dwelling on the attempt of the official opposition to instrumentalize every event that goes beyond its real political and legal coordinates, whether small or large, in the pre-election logic of targeting, especially when it cannot control the work being done. As we emphasized in our announcement, Greece is changing with projects, not with dirt, and our difference is that in the context of this project, we are ready to recognize every possible failure and turn it into a lesson by correcting it.