Inter-ministerial press conference to review measures for addressing fan violence

The government's complete satisfaction with the effectiveness of the measures taken over the last year and a half to address sports violence was expressed at a joint press conference on Wednesday, given by Minister of State Akis Skertsos, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou and Deputy Minister for Sports Yiannis Vroutsis.

They spoke of establishing a new culture in stadiums, presenting data from the implementation of the legislative framework from February 2024 to the present, while Vroutsis listed 10 new initiatives that will be taken in the near future, including the introduction of administrative sanctions for inciting violence against club officials.

Skertsos spoke of a coherent and comprehensive framework that now governs the conduct of football and basketball matches.

"Violence is a scourge on democracy and erodes social cohesion. Fan violence is one aspect. It is not a problem that can be addressed only through repression. The policies that were implemented brought results, with the cooperation of four ministries," Skertsos emphasised, while he particularly focused on the fact that representatives of the Swedish police visited Greece to study the good practices of the Greek police.

The Minister of State pointed out that the five axes on which the State moved were:

- The tightening of legislation and the acceleration of the adjudication of cases

- Surveillance of and controlled entry systems for stadiums

- Personalised tickets

- Automatic administrative sanctions

- The new operational planning of the police to deal with fan violence.

Deputy Sports Minister Yiannis Vroutsis emphasised, among others:

"Many believed that the measures we took were 'more of the same', but they were proved wrong. Greek sports are being upgraded and expanded, with innovative and reforming initiatives. We have tangible results from the implementation of the law."

More specifically, Vroutsis spoke of a new era in Greek sports.

"Technology is here to provide solutions to everyday life," emphasised Papasteriou, who presented the data from the implementation of measures to address sports violence: 1,485,012 personalised tickets (67% in football, 33% in basketball), of which 235,340 were for minors and 26,018 for foreigners, and 17,139 service requests on support.gov.gr.

"There were 966 cameras that simply existed in the stadiums. After February 2024, there are 2,597 high-definition cameras," Papasteriou said and concluded: "If there is a will, there is a way."

Chrysochoidis, on his part, referred to three keys to the successful implementation of the measures: electronic identification, the effectiveness of the Standing Committee on Preventing Violence and operational planning.

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