K. Pierrakakis for emerging technologies n/s: ‘Our philosophy is the simplification of the state’

“The bet is to bring the future together to today” emphasized the Minister of Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis during the prologue to the draft law “Emerging information technologies and communications, strengthening of digital governance and other provisions” in the Plenary.

The minister underlined that “the country is naturalized in the future”. “Our philosophy is to simplify the State and make it citizen-friendly.” The stake, noted Mr. Pierrakakis, is “to do everything, so that what we imagine turns into action now and not to delay it, because it is something that is being done”.

Mr. Pierrakakis mentioned that on Wednesday the national strategy for artificial intelligence will be presented to the Council of Ministers and will be put up for consultation. Its legislative part is currently done with the present draft law, while its next two parts will concern the Regulation and the projects and infrastructures that should be implemented in order to cumulatively establish the relevant transition. He also announced that on Wednesday evening the possibilities to have our police ID and driver’s license on our mobile phone will be introduced. These are, he said, “two acts with wider symbolism for the future”.

The minister referred to the simplifications of public services, saying that “we have focused on those that obviously concern all of us horizontally in our daily lives. And here work is needed in order to record all the procedures that exist in the Organizations, which is what “MITOS” will do. as today we are establishing its legal framework, so that we can then proceed with their simplification”.

Referring to the draft law, he noted that the so-called “emerging technologies” as they are called and concern artificial intelligence, drones, chains of elements, 3D printing, the internet of things, etc. in fact “they now have a dominant position in international applications”. He noted that it is “necessary and extremely important to intervene in the field and be able to regulate them, that is, to take all the necessary actions to be able to establish that technological development will be in favor of the citizen and society”. He estimated that the timing for this regulation is appropriate as it follows a series of other interventions initiated by this government. We are moving, said Mr. Pierrakakis, to issues related to the “fourth digital revolution”. He pointed out that these regulations are “in recognition of the European regulation that is being attempted” but “are also enriched with additional regulations in favor of the citizen” such as with Article 9, such as in addition to the protection of personal data (GDPR) of employees that exist in our workplace legislation, we also establish an additional safeguard regarding the obligation to inform the employee and about the algorithm for processing their data. In this way, he added, “in the ongoing European dialogue, our country contributes and puts its own values ​​on the table.”

The minister submitted legislative improvements regarding the protection of personal data, according to the observations of the agencies and the parties, saying that “in infrastructure matters there needs to be a common osmosis beyond party rivalries, that is why we are proceeding with a series of integrations” .

Mr. Pierrakakis, responding to the criticisms of PASOK-KINAL’s special buyer Ilhad Ahmed for many direct project assignments from the Ministry, called them “coal the treasure”. He claimed that these “constitute only 2% of the total budget of the Ministry and if you sum them up – subtracting those that are for operational costs such as stationery – you will see that these are for the creation of very small platforms, which cost much less than than in the past, because the price of technology is falling.”

The parliamentary representative of SYRIZA Yannis Ragousis, pointed out that he will wait for the improvements that the minister will make in order for his party to determine its final position. He observed that the fact that there were so many improvements in number from the proposals of the opposition is positive but it also shows something. He observed that first the Council of Ministers should have met to draw up the national strategy for artificial intelligence and then this bill came and not the other way around. He acknowledged that “there is progress in digital governance” but noted that there was a great project that the government found and it was done under difficult conditions and by great reactions from para-Christian organizations that do not exist today. We will build on the work of the government, as you built on us, he said. He criticized the government for behaving with arrogance as “you tried to eliminate the founding law on e-government, N.3979/2011, as well as every other important digital progress of the period 2015-2019”, noting that “2 years would have been lost by the country and the citizens if you had to legislate from scratch”. The progress that exists “is not what is presented. Proof is the annual report of the BSE which states specifically that despite continuous improvements in Public Administration, Greece is in the last place. And this highlights both the greater scope and the speed of integration of digital solutions in the the rest of the EU, as well as the delay in addressing structural problems in Greece (e.g. reduced interoperability of registers, delay in digitization of justice, etc.)”.

The special buyer of PASOK-KINAL Ilhad Ahmed stated that today’s legislative initiative of the government aims to put our country at the center of European developments as far as emerging IT technologies are concerned. PASOK wants the country to be at the center of developments, it wants the country to propose and not just follow. However, the way the government deals with the developments and talks with the new data is fragmented, unclear and general. There is no specific business plan in the bill. Articles referring to artificial intelligence completely ignore the European approach. The rules that classify these algorithmic systems are absent. Artificial intelligence systems that pose a clear threat to the safety, livelihood and rights of citizens are not expressly prohibited. He called, among other things, for a value framework in the use of emerging IT technologies. He emphasized that “blockchain technology can strengthen decentralized decision-making. You create committees and observatories that cost public money. You create a Hybrid Threat Analysis Observatory in the Ministry of Digital Governance against the definition of hybrid threats” He pointed out that 42% of the Ministry’s projects were commissioned in procedures with just one candidate and 13.9% with direct assignments.

The parliamentary representative of the KKE Nikos Karathanasopoulos explaining the rejection of the draft law by the Authority, he said that it is “included in the strategic options to serve the needs of capital, as they are translated, for example, in the context of the digital transition. And not the needs of the citizens and the people”. We are, as he mentioned, in an era where there are very rapid changes precisely because of technological progress, but this as planned does not automatically create social welfare for everyone. The hallmark of these emerging technologies is the surge in labor productivity not for the benefit of workers and society but for the owner of the means of production to reap. So this is why we say that all these are tools that will ultimately be at the expense of the popular strata.

The parliamentary representative of the Greek Solution Antonis Mylonakis he observed that “the government’s effort is to automate through algorithms the actions of citizens through which we save time, money and personnel” but “before we get to talking about artificial intelligence we should solve the simple and logical problems that plague us”. However, he said that the draft law is “in the right direction”, but what Greece lacks is not the definition of artificial intelligence, but to be able to make laws, to change attitudes and to enable the Greek people and the country to progress”.

The special buyer of MERA25 Fotini Bakadima, stated that we “believe in the public and social character of the logistical infrastructure of the IT society, in the expansion of freedom of expression and information, in free and unimpeded access to information with full respect for human, political, social, labor and all kinds of rights” but unfortunately here too “New Democracy continues to legislate with its eyes on the few”. The technological revolution, said the MP, “is here, but we say no to a draft and vague bill that leaves many gray areas, when it could really work as a more general framework for integrating artificial intelligence and emerging technologies into our lives “. Therefore, Ms. Bakadima concluded, “we say “no” on principle to the draft law.