ATHENS – To the relief of anyone who’s had to be in a Greek public service waiting for service and seeing document files piled on floors and cabinet tops, more of them will now be accessed through a mobile phone application.

That will be done through the portal gov.gr that will inaugurated the week of Dec. 21, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the online Digital Economy Forum, the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency (ANA-MPA) said.

The conference was organized by the Hellenic Labour Inspectorate (SEPE), and Mitsotakis, who in a previous government was Minister of Administrative Reform and E-Governance, addressed its opening session.

He said that the digital portal of the public sector, which is already available online and started operation in March, was scheduled to include 1,000 electronic services, from its current 724. Calling the portal "a foundation" of public administration,

Mitsotakis said it had already received 7 million visits, issued 772,000 digital documents, and had carried out 6.6 million doctors' prescriptions in addition to 2.3 million referrals.

Greeks are often frustrated in dealings with public offices that long have had a reputation for inefficiency and being a labyrinth of bureaucracy with long waits and indifferent service.

During a second lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, many services have been closed with staff allegedly working at home but reports that phones weren’t being answered and services not provided for many.