• Illumination of the Parliament with the blue color of awareness for dyslexia

October 8^th as European Dyslexia Awareness Day and the facade of the Parliament building was illuminated with the slogan "Dysl3xia - Divine Gift", on a symbolic blue-turquoise background, as a sign of support and encouragement of the constant efforts of dyslexics to overcome the difficulties.

According to the Panhellenic Association of Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder, one in ten children have dyslexia, which has a biological and mainly hereditary etiology.

• Meeting of the President of Parliament with the Minister of Environment and Energy in the framework of the initiative “Greece without disposable plastics”

Mr. Hatzidakis visited Mr. Tassoulas in the framework of the actions of the program "Greece without disposable plastics", a joint initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Public Benefit Foundation, in order for the Parliament to participate as a pioneer in the information campaign for the need to eliminate disposable plastic products. In fact, he symbolically offered to the President of Parliament a reusable container of water and a reusable cup for coffee, which will be distributed to the deputies’ boxes.

"If we do not understand that we are holding the environment in our hands, we will not be able to deliver a healthier environment to our children. The Greek Parliament has always supported the ecological consciousness and especially the ecological practice" stressed the President of the Parliament, Mr. Konstantinos Tassoulas, welcoming the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Nikolaos Tagaras, the General Secretary of Natural Environment and Waters Mr. Konstantinos Aravosis and the Executive Director of the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Public Benefit Foundation, Mrs. Angeliki Kosmopoulou.

The President of Parliament underlined that "this is a substantial, courageous intervention, which, if adopted in practice by all, will change the landscape in which we live and will stop this deterioration of the environment, which we experience in our daily lives, with incredible amounts of plastic and other forms of contamination ".

Mr. Tassoulas praised the importance of the legislative initiative related to these actions, saying that "we take such responsibilities that can prove that we can now improve the environment and prove that 'all together we can' is not only in relation to these negatives that we see in the streets and the seabeds, but it is in relation to those that we will soon stop seeing, that is, anything that constitutes pollution and burden on the environment. It is a campaign that obviously must be embraced by all and it is commendable that you take the initiative to inform all Members of Parliament in practice, who I hope will take the lead in spreading this social responsibility".

The Minister of Environment and Energy referred to the "green bill" that is currently being debated in Parliament, stressing that "the bill for the elimination of disposable plastics is in implementation of a relevant EU directive, but we at the Ministry of Environment do not see it as an obligation vis-a-vis Brussels, but as a debt to the environment. Disposable plastics are extremely polluting and even more polluting our seas and coasts. Therefore, even if this EU directive did not exist, we would have to invent it. So we are one of the first to adopt it, we give the market a significant margin of time to adapt and, from July 2021, when the law will have passed, disposable plastics will be a thing of the past".

The Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Nikolaos Tagaras, pointed out that "over 40% of the marine litter we see on our shores is disposable plastic. This initiative - he stressed - is not only symbolic but also extremely substantial. We are ready to fulfill our role and our responsibility, to protect the environment".

Source: www.hellenicparliament.gr

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