In a bid to ensure there is follow-through in policy announcements made at the regional development conferences held around the country, the government has set up an electronic observatory mechanism to monitor and, if necessary, intervene to ensure their implementation.
The aim is simple, according to Minister of State Christoforos Vernardakis, who gave the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) a “tour” of the new platform: the government seeks to demonstrate that the “day after” the conferences leads to practical results and the implementation of reforms that local communities so desperately need.
Vernardakis said that the project, mentioned by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his speech at the regional conference for East Attica, had already taken its first “steps” and that the closed platform was now up and running – giving instant access to the prime minister, Economy and Development Minister Yiannis Dragasakis and Vernardakis.
He explained that some 509 separate policies announced during the first 10 regional growth conferences were already uploaded onto the system, with those made in Thessaloniki and Lavrio still pending. Of these, 495 involved government actions – as distinct from those involving regional authorities – and the rest referred to acts of legislation of various kinds.
The policies covered a broad range of issues, Vernardakis reported, from health and education to infrastructure, production, energy, environmental issues, tourism, welfare, and use of public space. Some were short term, while others would take years to complete.
For each of these, the platform provided a percentage rate of completion, as well as the last date this changed and when any previous changes occurred. This allowed the progress of projects to be monitored by government headquarters, Vernardakis said, while his own office had a direct line to a contact appointed by each ministry, in charge of implementing and supervising each particular project.
The minister noted that implementation progress was already at 20 pct, even though some projects had extremely long implementation times and the regional conferences had only begun in the summer. The Eastern Macedonia-Thrace region was the “champion” in terms of implementation, with a completion rate of 35.8 pct, followed by Western Greece with 30.7 pct and Thessaly with 24.1 pct, he said.
The platform also allows the monitoring of progress by ministry, with the environment and energy ministry currently in the lead with 65 pct, followed by the economy and development ministry.
