“The fight against corruption is systematic and persistent”, underlined the Minister of Interior, Makis Voridis, in the context of an event on issues of dealing with risks, corruption, and delinquency in the field of citizenship, which took place at noon at booth 15 of the Ministry of Interior, at the 85th Thessaloniki International Fair.
“I do not tolerate Greece being at a low ranking in matters of corruption. “This case is not just a moral bet, but it has economic consequences,” he said, adding that the fight against corruption “is a national goal”.
The minister stressed that the country has managed to return to the 59th place in the global corruption rankings in the last two years, from 67th in 2015.
Regarding the return of citizenship, Mr. Voridis said that at the moment there are about 35,000 applications pending a response. “We owe answers. Not necessarily positive, but answers. Answers that will be thorough and so those concerned will know why we say yes or no. The relationship will be clear and a state that is established for this so important case, which is the return of the status of Greek citizen, can be a trustworthy, clear process”, he stated characteristically.
Regarding the changes made to the naturalization procedures, he said: “We saw that there was an issue in the interview, as some people were breezing through and some were being cut off. But from where there were complaints, they suddenly fell to zero.” He added that in the first pan-Hellenic competition for the examinations for obtaining the certificate of naturalization, 2,500 people took part, while in the second, which is expected in the next period, the participation reaches 6,500.
At the same event, the General Secretary of Citizenship Athanasios Balerbas doted on in cooperation with the National Transparency Authority since November 2019. “It was very effective that we could work with an Organization that had the know-how, the will and the determination to help us deal with problems with the procedures,” said Mr. Balermas.
On behalf of the National Transparency Authority, Governor Angelos Binis underlined that “we started with an evaluation of the complaints, what was the number and quality of the complaints we received on issues of citizenship. We had a clear plan from the beginning and put the right valves on three levels: organizational, operational and legislative “, while he handed over to the minister a code of ethics and ethics of internal auditors and a practical interview guide for acquiring citizenship.
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