Thanks to its strong and active involvement in this programme, the Municipality of Athens provided practical proof of its intention to embrace innovative approaches to preventing corruption, promoting transparency and fostering democratic participation. As the largest and most populous municipality in Greece, Athens –through its participation in the ACT project– aspires to be a pioneer and thereby inspire other cities in Greece to dare to move towards a more open, transparent and inclusive governance model.
In part, due to existing national legislation and the regulatory and procedural framework applicable to the public administration, the Municipality of Athens has taken a quite progressive approach to the issue of transparency for public contracts, its risk assessment strategy and the transparency of its own budget. Data and information in these fields are published in part either on the Municipality’s own website or on the government’s central administration platforms such as Diavgeia and Promitheas. With those points in mind, the Municipality of Athens needs to improve its strategy on access to public information, the degree of transparency in decision-making and its whistleblower protection system.
Overall, the Municipality of Athens lacks the resources, and in particular innovative digital tools, that would allow it to organise, visualise and –in the end– better present the wealth of data and information it has to all stakeholders and actors. Moreover, the Municipality could utilise such tools to further bolster and promote its own democratic participation and performance ratings when it comes to access to public information.
The Municipality of Athens’ participation in the ACT project is incontrovertible proof of the nation’s capital’s commitment to combating corruption and promoting transparency. The ACT project will provide Athens with all the tools and guidance needed to achieve this important goal.
