Greece is ahead of Germany in the digitization of public services, says German minister

Greece is ahead of Germany in terms of the digitization of public services, a German minister noted on Thursday.

This was mentioned by Deputy Minister for Housing, Urban Development & Buildings Sören Bartol, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who is also Germany’s new envoy to the Greek-German Representative Assembly. The German state official was making a statement to DEMO, SPD’s magazine about local authorities.

Elaborating, Bartol said that “Greece is considerably ahead of Germany in some areas,” and that the “digitization of the public administration is a big issue for us at the moment.” In Greece, he added, “citizens can now carry digital identity documents or driving licenses on their smartphones, and there is already valuable knowledge in local government that we can benefit from.”

Greece’s “rich experience in the field of civil protection and forest firefighting, could also be brought over to Germany,” he noted.

Founded in 2010, the Greek-German Representative Assembly is a local-government collaboration between Greece and Germany. Referring to this collaboration, Bartol pointed out that it aims to strengthen the spirit of the European community, and deepen bilateral relations at the local and regional level in terms of sustainability.

This assembly “has become an integral element of the two countries’ bilateral relations,” he underlined.

source: amna.gr