11.07.2026 • 23:42
The establishment of young, state-of-the-art – aesthetic and technological – MyPoint service points of ADE is positive. Especially if compared to the image of many Public Finance Services of the past, which were often characterized by poor infrastructure, poor cleanliness and a lack of elementary household.
It is also true that, despite the ageing and fragmentation of relevant online applications, citizens and businesses are directly served when the process is fully digital and is automatedly handled by an information system. In these cases, the interface with AADE becomes easier, faster and at minimal cost in time and money.
The picture changes, however, when the human factor is involved. In several cases, e.g. electronic requests, in particular when substantial employee handling is required, response times remain problematic and are often very high in relation to the previous physical presence status. Old DOUs were aesthetically and technologically obsolete and often required long-term waiting. However, finally, «The job was done»Today, a simple process that earlier could be completed within a few days may take weeks or even months.
All that has changed is the way the citizen experiences the delay. He used to see the tail, and today, a «request to be processed» On screen. At least then he could ask the clerk, instead of waiting for an idle response from an impersonal system. In other words, suffering was transformed from physics to digital.
THE technological modernisation is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the actual improvement of the level of services. Improvement first requires a natural-centric approach and real simplification of procedures. Digitization does not mean that the State may hide behind a platform or a myPoint. It must respond with speed and professionalism to citizens' demands. He must ask for fewer certificates and statements and limit procedures. Otherwise, we are not talking about reform, but about electronic reproduction of existing bureaucracy. It is no accident that for issuing an identity card hundreds of thousands of citizens per year they are forced to pay two different parabola because nobody made sure to unify them.
A typical example is also the transition from mapmark in digital transaction fee, where many cases of burden have been maintained which are likely to be devoid of practical or budgetary logic. The impression is that, since the new system carries the administrative burden on the taxpayer, the administration chose to maintain arrangements which, if the logic of simplification had prevailed, would have been completely abolished. A genuine reform would focus on transactions with a serious financial footprint, such as rents, and eliminate other cases.
Of course, there are attempts to simplify. Indicative is the case of the attestation referred to in Article 19 for the transfer of private recreational craft. Until recently, the obligation to issue it existed regardless of length. The AADE confirmed, inter alia, that a small four-metre boat did not charge taxes, wages or crew contributions, and it could take considerable time to issue the certificate concerned due to the large and largely unnecessary administrative burden. The exclusion of private vessels up to seven metres from this obligation, although obvious, moves in the right direction.
At the same time, rules aimed at limiting corruption have restricted effective communication. The taxpayer or company no longer have contact with the case operator in most cases. This may restrict arbitrariness, but often makes it difficult to understand and manage a complex issue effectively.
Good, then, the landscaping of the so-called «front office»But there is a need for a deep reform in the institutional context, human resources and the way it works. «back office». There must be clear deadlines, responsibility and accountability from the administration. When the taxpayer is faced with suffocating deadlines, fines and interest, the administration cannot in practice enjoy unlimited response time. The main thing is that ADE should not face the management costs at which «load» It is not the same that the banking system, as a zero, is burdening taxpayers and companies. The fact that it does not cost her does not mean that this is not a burden on economic development, i.e. on economic development itself. «public interest» which clearly states that he is serving. The need to measure this cost with a view to its drastic limitation is imperative.
*Mr. Vassilis Masselos is the chairman of the Association of Businesses in Plexicon and Ready Clothing.
