“A tool for transparency and accountability” is how Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the new Local Government Performance Monitoring Hub, which was presented today at the Maximou Mansion at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. Through this hub, for the first time, all citizens will have access to collected statistical data on critical services provided by local authorities.
After the presentation, Mitsotakis expressed his satisfaction and said he was “very impressed by this tool” and congratulated the Ministry’s services for the painstaking collection of all relevant data.
“I would say that this tool is useful on multiple levels. First of all, it is a tool for citizens, transparency and accountability, to be able to know the real performance of their municipality and therefore be able to judge the effectiveness of mayors based on objective indicators,” Mitsotakis said, adding:
“It is certainly a tool for the Mayors themselves, so that they can make their own self-criticism and, by comparing themselves with other Municipalities, they can see where they are lagging behind and where they have advantages.”
The prime minister also stressed that it is a tool for the interior ministry as well, so that it can use the funding tools to reward specific behaviours, set targets and then measure the effectiveness of municipalities in terms of achieving those targets.
“I think it’s generally a public policy tool as well, because I imagine that if this data were processed at an AI level, if we fed all of this i.e., for example, into ChatGPT, it would give us very useful conclusions that we might not be able to see with the naked eye. But there is a lot of value here in time series. We start with a base year so that we can measure progress or possible regression,” Mitsotakis said.
At the same time, he stressed that in the 2028 Municipal Elections, it will be a very useful tool for citizens, so that they can objectively evaluate and compare the performance of their elected leaders, “but of course for those who want to claim participation in local communities, to draw up a program, which can then be evaluated on the basis of measurable objectives.”
And concluded:
“Really, a very impressive effort and, I think, another indication of how Public Administration data can in an open and accessible way be useful both for citizens as a tool for accountability and information, but also for the administration as an important tool for making more targeted Public Policy.”
What this hub offers
During the presentation, made by Interior Minister Thodoris Livanios, it was noted that nine main indicators are available on the new deiktesota.gov.gr portal: for the financial operation of municipalities, the social protection they provide, pre-school education and children’s structures, culture, sustainable mobility, waste management, civil protection, stray animal management and digital maturity.
Each section includes a series of sub-indicators, resulting in the first ever nationwide database that serves both transparency and policy making, based on the real and now documented needs of each local community.
The data reflect, in the first phase, the situation in the year 2024, which is also a base year for comparison with subsequent years that will be added in the future.
The data was collected through a questionnaire sent to municipalities and by drawing information from relevant government registries, such as the National Pet Animal Registry and the Electronic Waste Registry. The project is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”.
The meeting was also attended by Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou, State Minister Akis Skertsos, Deputy Interior Minister Vassilis Spanakis and Prime Minister’s Secretary General Stelios Koutnatzis.
