Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ response to a Current Question by MP Andreas Loverdos (Hellenic Parliament, 07.11.2022)

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Good afternoon.

Dear Minister, dear colleague,

Thank you for recognizing the significance of our sincere cooperation and information exchange.

Of course, it is my obligation [to brief you]. I do no more than that. However, I appreciate your kindness in acknowledging it.

Moreover, I have to say, as you are probably aware and expect, answering your question in principle, I agree with you. I’m not going to come here and start with “this happened then, that happened then, or it was the fault of the one or the other”.

I will agree with you that the funds available, particularly for promotion and PR expenses in our Missions abroad are very limited, as is the Ministry’s overall budget.

Let me say a couple of things in my opening statement and expand on them in my second intervention, viewing the process here as one aimed at exchanging information and explaining a position to the National Assembly, rather than an attempt to use this question as an Opposition tool against the Government.

I won’t get into the budget issues you mentioned. Simply put, it will be around 290 in 2023. And, in comparison to the previous year, the apparent reduction is not a real one, because staff and various expenses have been transferred to the Ministry of Development. But let me return to your question because it’s more interesting.

First of all, essentially, in 2023, the amount that Missions abroad will start with, will double, rising to around 800,000 euros from around 300,000 in 2022. For promotion and PR costs, which is what your question is mainly about, as I read it.

This amount, the EUR 300,000 of 2022 will rise to around EUR 1,000,000 by the end of the year, with additional approvals from the Ministry’s headquarters for ad hoc actions.

But it’s a structural problem we are dealing with, ladies and gentlemen, that has been attempted to be fixed.

The legal problem is the Ministry’s overall financial management that allows for a large amount of funds unspent each year – Mr. Speaker, perhaps you will allow me to use a little of my initial statement to say a few things- that the services are unable to absorb.

Absorption of funds is improving, however; we are at 78% in 2021 and expect to be over 80% in 2022. We started with under 70%.

To address this, the Ministry’s overall reform, which is currently being implemented is required. And I say this briefly; I will elaborate in my second intervention.

A Directorate-General for Financial Services has been set up, which needs to be staffed with people who are qualified in the field of financial management. A large part of the Ministry’s staff is not familiar with financial management. We published a vacancy notice for the position, but it was unsuccessful, so we re-advertised it.

A Directorate of Strategic and Operational Planning has been established along with a framework for action allocation so that we know which actions to fund. So, it won’t be up to the Minister to distribute the funds based on his preferences and sympathies, or on the name, either big or small, of each Embassy.

We have moved to digitalize financial management in all Missions abroad, and the system will be operational as of June 1, 2023. So, whoever succeeds me will have a significant tool in their hands to know what is happening in the services’ finances.

There is a presidential decree that we will discuss and you will be individually informed, due to your previous capacity, about the composition of the Missions abroad because we will bring about changes.

And there is also the implementation of the project “Digitalization of Consular Services” so that there are better services. I’ll tell you the rest in my second intervention, but my response, in a nutshell, is as follows:

First, more money in 2023.

Secondly, improving the system so that money is not returned unspent. That means digitalization and strategic planning, allocation of actions, funding of actions, and no services at the discretion of the respective Minister.

Mr. LOVERDOS:

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Mr. DENDIAS:

Dear Colleagues and dear Minister,

I have no intention of accusing you as regards your motives for tabling the question and I reiterate because I want to be honest with the National Assembly, that I share at least the reading of the figures, to a large extent.

What I would like to ask you to do together is to move away from simply reading the figures as figures and from the justified complaints of those who deal with such meager sums. Of course, they are not as meager as they may seem, since, as I previously stated, the Ministry gradually increases the amounts throughout the year, reaching 1 million in 2023. Even if meager still, increasing it takes years.

And you have correctly mentioned the neighboring country, which frequently acts against our own interests, as a measure of comparison. That’s true and our country must promote its own rights. Its rights are not God-given. As a result, I share your motivations for tabling the question.

But I ask you, instead of dwelling on the first issue, to take a deeper look behind it and examine the more important second-order problem, that is this Ministry’s long-standing inability to absorb funds. Although I would prefer not to publically share my explanation, I do have one.

Allow me to give an example:  National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRF). It is the only ministry that hasn’t used any NSRF funds for its buildings, both inside and outside the country, which are in bad condition. You mentioned the costs of the Missions Abroad, and you arε right to do so; let me give you a figure. And I will defend my own three-year track record because you are right, I didn’t take office yesterday. I cannot act or speak like someone who is new to this position.

The budget approved for 2021 was 26 million, with an additional modification, 43 million. We’re discussing the Missions Abroad funds. Do you know they returned 11 million that they were unable to absorb? So, how can I request extra money from the Ministry of Finance when my ministry’s system is not able to absorb the funds? So, what was the option? Because you’re right when you ask me, “You’ve been there for three years; what have you been doing?” I will tell you what I did.

I have been trying to change the operating system. As I previously stated, a Directorate-General for Financial Services has been established. A business plan with projected costs for each action has been drawn up so as to know where the money is going. The digitalization of consular services has proceeded.

If you ask me, if you submit a question now about the costs incurred on the basis of consular resource collections up to September 30th, I will be unable to respond because I am unaware of them. I will not receive all the data/figures until the end of the year.

Furthermore, a digitalized platform for actions has been established. So that we know what actions are underway and, as a result, how much money is being paid for those actions.

And in the second stage, changes to the Diplomatic Academy are planned, to modify the diplomat’s qualifications so that he or she is familiar with finances, as well.

You asked me about the Economic and Trade Affairs staff. I could respond to you about that as well, but time does not allow it. We need to do – and I say “we need to” because this will take more than one parliamentary term, perhaps two or three at least – a comprehensive reform, but we are on the right track.  Because for the first time in its history, this Ministry will absorb more than EUR 110 million for digital projects. As a Ministry, it will change.

After two years, whoever sits in the Foreign Minister’s chair will be running another Ministry. He will not have to give you, or anyone else, the answers I am giving today.
But that required a complete change of mindset, rather than simply saying, “I’m increasing the funds so that I can return them to the Ministry of Finance at the end of the year, so that nobody comes to me and, rightfully, audits me and tell me what I’m doing”.

It required changing the system as a whole so that it can become a modern, 21st-century ministry. That’s my response to you.

And again, I present my response before the Assembly, co-signing the correctness of what you say about the amount being comical in absolute terms. You are not going to hear anything else from me on that.