The Greek government, which has riled lenders recently with the reversal of some reforms in the public sector, said that it will introduce a new assessment scheme for civil servants within a month.

Speaking at the Economist conference in Athens on Thursday, Alternate Minister for Administrative Reform Giorgos Katrougalos said that the evaluation system to be brought in by the government would aim to improve the performance of civil servants. Katrougalos claimed the scheme introduced by the previous coalition sought to punish workers.

Katrougalos said that Athens has signed agreements with the French and Swedish governments for the exchange of know-how in order to develop the assessment scheme.

“Greek society has a hostile attitude toward the state, which it does not trust,” said the minister. “The changes that we are working on are aimed at improving the performance of the public administration and restoring its image in the eyes of citizens.”

The government has angered creditors by reversing some of the previous government’s sackings in the civil service and abandoning a mobility scheme. However, Katrougalos said on Thursday that a new mobility program would be introduced, mostly targeting the health, education and welfare sectors.

Katrougalos claimed that the reforms passed by the previous government were not genuine and were only implemented so Greece could get through the troika reviews.