Greek Kick-off Meeting

"Building capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in governance and public administration in a post-pandemic Europe"

Venue: Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens.

Date/Time: 21^st February 2023, 09:45-15:00 EET.

Format: hybrid (both in-person and online).

Context

European societies face complex problems such as Covid-19, addressing the policy challenges of climate change and of achieving climate neutrality of EU economies, information systems vulnerable to mis- and disinformation, among others. Governments, public administrations and experts in the scientific community must join forces to address these wicked problems and help public administrations to be better equipped to design better, evidence-informed policies that will deliver public value and sustainable results for their citizens.

This project, supported by the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) by DG REFORM, aims to overcome challenges in connecting supply and demand of evidence and scientific knowledge for effective policymaking. It will help public administrations through building greater capacity for effective engagement between scientists, evaluators and policymakers. Particularly, the country component of the project involves preparing a diagnostic report, a needs assessment and roadmaps for policy implementation at the national level. These should offer pathways for promoting new and innovative approaches for sharing knowledge and improving the management and coordination of governance processes for decision-making, policymaking, rule-making and budgeting to achieve greater effectiveness. 

For Greece, this project is timely. A previous project by DG REFORM “Technical support for coordinating, monitoring and assessing public policies and structural reforms in Greece” enabled the government to develop and mobilise tools and mechanisms for better planning, coordinating and monitoring the administration’s policy work, as well as introducing evaluation as a valuable component in policymaking. Second, Greece held the JRC workshop “Science for policymaking in Greece” in September 2021 helped map the key stakeholders in the Greek science-for-policy ecosystem. Third, the Greek public administration is undergoing a deep reform as part of the Executive State Law, where scientific evidence can become an enabling factor for better policymaking.

The project is implemented with the support of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Goals

1. Formal launch of the analysis to strengthen capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in Greece in the post-pandemic Europe, as part of the multi-country project 22EL07.
2. Present the scope of the project and its implications at the national level.

Registration

• The format of the event will be hybrid.
• Please, register below by 13th February 2023.
• In-person participation is limited to 100 people. Your registration will be confirmed by 14th February 2023.
• Online participation is not limited. You will also receive the connection details days before the event.

Registration form

Programme

Athens, 21^st February 2023, 09:45-15:00 EET

09:15  Arrival – Registration desk

09:45  Opening remarks

• Akis Skertsos, Minister of State for the Coordination of Government Policies.
• Nathalie Berger, Director, DG REFORM.

10:15  International perspectives on evidence-informed policymaking

• David Mair, Head of the Science for democracy and evidence-informed policymaking Unit, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commmission.
• Stéphane Jacobzone, Senior Adviser, Public Management and Budgeting Division, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

10:45  The Greek ecosystem of science for policy

Moderated by Aris Alexopoulos, Government Adviser, Professor of Public Policy, University of Crete.

• Stella Ladi, Reader in Public Management, Panteion University and Queen Mary University of London.
• Calliope Spanou, Professor of Administrative Science – Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

11:15  Coffee break

11:45  The national perspective on evidence-informed policymaking: the role of beneficiaries in the Greek ecosystem of science for policy

            Chaired by Apostolos Fertis, Special Advisor, General Secretariat of Coordination.

          Moderated by Lorenzo Melchor, Policy Analyst, Science for democracy and evidence-informed policymaking Unit, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commmission.

• Michalis Arghyrou, President, Council of Economic Experts (SOE).
• Thanos Petralias, General Secretary of Fiscal Policy.
• Panagiotis Liargovas, President of the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE).
• Theodoros Tsekos, Professor, University of Peloponnesse, Director of the Institute of Political Research (IPR), The National Centre for Social Research (EKKE).
• Theodoros Giannakopoulos, Researcher of Multimodal Machine Learning, Principal Researcher of the National Centre for Scientific Research "Demokritos".
• Eirini Andriopoulou, Head of the Unit of Experts in Employment, Social Insurance, Welfare and Social Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

13:15  Closing remarks

• Athanasios Kontogeorgis, Secretary General of Coordination, Presidency of the Government.
• Nathalie Berger, Director, DG REFORM.

13:30  Lunch

15:00  END