The demographic issue is a very multifactorial and highly complex matter which Eurobank does not consider to be an initiative concerning the government of the day or the state, but all of us.
This was emphasized by Michalis Vlastarakis, General Manager of Marketing & Corporate Communication of the Eurobank Group, at the Conference “Low Birth Rate and Family: Composing solutions for the Demographic Problem” and at the panel “What needs to change and the support of the Greek periphery as a solution to the Demographic issue”.
The conference took place on Monday, September 21, by the Media2day Group, on the initiative of Iatronet.gr, Euro2day.gr and Mama365.gr, under the auspices of the Region of Attica.
After analyzing the reasons why the bank decided to become active (since 2021) on the country's eastern borders, Mr. Vlastarakis then referred both to the initiatives undertaken by Eurobank and to the new ones that are coming.
As he said, to date the bank has organized 18 information campaigns, because “it is a pity for there to be ignorance”.
In cooperation with Believe, 85 children have been born through IVF in these border regions, while with the assistance of the Archdiocese, 1,140 baby packages have been distributed.
“And since we are a bank, we have also undertaken a series of special products, which are of course socially oriented. Such as, for example, the housing loan in these areas for families with three children, which carries a 1% interest rate for 40 years, etc.
Immediately after that come jobs; these people need jobs in their own place in order to stay there. By shedding light on this area, we took the following initiatives. We created 75 jobs with the help of remote banking.
These people serve the bank’s customers, just like their other colleagues who are in Attica, and they are located in remote little villages in Evros or on islands of the northeastern Aegean. 64 small businesses received microloans with the help of Afi, which specializes in microcredit. We provide the capital to Afi to do this work and these people start a small business effort in the border villages of northern Evros,” he explained.
He then referred to Eurobank’s next initiatives, such as the construction of a housing complex in Orestiada for the free accommodation of trainee doctors.
Expansion, due to demand, of Afi’s program for microcredit for new businesses in Evros.
In cooperation with the Bodossaki Foundation and its program “Live Science”, another ten STEM study laboratories are being created in junior high schools.
Strengthening of the Maternity Clinic of the General Hospital of Didymoteicho.
“We are trying to build daycare centers in Evros as well. And finally, we have the initiative for some families to go to border villages of Northern Evros, so that life may be given there”.
Closing his remarks, the General Manager of Marketing & Corporate Communication of the Eurobank Group stressed:
“All these initiatives will not change the country’s demographic issue. The 85 new little children will not change the world.
However, believe me, each one of these little children changes the whole world for a mother, for a new father when they come up against a medical problem, (do not think they know the medical problems), they realize it along the way and as soon as they learn that there is a solution they run into the unbearable financial issue. Imagine, therefore, such a couple in borderland Greece finding at some point a solution to both of their problems. They experience it as a small miracle”.