Editorial: A vision for the future

One of the examples of Greece’s progress over the last years that Prime Minister Kyriakos underlined in his 5 July speech to the European parliament is the digital transformation of the state.

It clearly was not exhausted with the successful issuance of vaccination certificates and the gov.gr website that facilitates a series of transactions between citizens and the unwieldy state bureaucracy.

If all goes as planned, a new programme will be in place: the digital police ID and the digital driver’s license that will be stored in one’s cell phone, making everyone’s daily life a bit easier.

For Greek society, this seems incredible, like something out of a futuristic film.

Given the realities of the past in a country where until two years ago long queues and major delays at public services were par for the course in daily life, the imminent digitalisation of such important documents constitutes a peek at the future, a glimpse at a tomorrow in which Greece will be at the core of the digital transformation.

One must not overlook the fact, however, that this reform is the product of systematic efforts that began of necessity during the pandemic, and has evolved in a manner that makes Greece a serious interlocutor of the international leaders of digital development.

Mitsotakis has worked closely with Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis (photo, at the PM’s right), who has earned widespread public praise, in planning the future course of the digital transformation

As for the substance of the reform and its reception by the public, it constitutes a significant national success that reflects the progress Greece achieved after the previous decade, when the country found itself in the vortex of the debt crisis.