In a remarkable turn of events, Greece, a nation once synonymous with bureaucratic hurdles, is now being hailed as a pioneer in public sector digitalization. Its comprehensive digital transformation, centered around the gov.gr platform, has not only streamlined interactions between citizens and the state but has also become a beacon for other European countries grappling with outdated administrative processes.
Greece’s Digital Leap: From Bureaucracy to Efficiency
Over the past few years, Greece has aggressively pursued the digital transformation of its public services. The gov.gr portal, a central digital hub, now boasts more than 2,200 digital services, significantly easing the burden of bureaucracy for citizens and businesses alike. New functionalities such as digital co-signing of documents and authorization, which allows individuals and legal entities to electronically sign joint documents directly through the platform, are revolutionizing administrative tasks. Tools like the Citizen’s Box for receiving official documents and notifications, and the mAigov assistant for facilitating transactions with the public sector, further enhance user experience and efficiency.
Beyond core administrative functions, Greece is extending digitalization into other critical areas. This includes platforms for evaluating public services, parental controls for social media, protection of minors from alcohol and tobacco, and controlled entry to stadiums to combat fan violence. These initiatives demonstrate a holistic approach to digital governance, addressing a wide range of societal needs through technological innovation.
Europe Takes Notice: Germany Learns from Athens
Europe is notorious for its often chaotic, time-consuming, and anachronistic public services, where paper-based processes persist even in the age of artificial intelligence. Germany, for instance, famously resorted to printing and faxing COVID-19 test results to health authorities during the pandemic, only for them to be manually re-entered into computers. The digitalization of the state has been a long-standing demand, partly addressed by the European Union’s Recovery Fund.
Experts acknowledge that old paper habits are hard to break. However, they warn that if governments fail to genuinely digitalize public administration, they will soon be unable to implement their own policies, as highlighted by The Economist. While some countries, like Estonia, have advanced so far that they are no longer realistic benchmarks for others (where even divorce can be finalized online), Greece’s journey offers a more relatable and achievable model.
Greece’s digital ‘turn’ has been swift and impactful. From 2018 to 2024, the country climbed from the lowest European ranks in digital public service indicators to reach the European average. On November 24th, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Greece’s former ‘architect’ of digital transformation and now head of the Eurogroup, traveled to Germany to meet Carsten Wildberger, the new German Minister for Digital Policy, tasked with the ‘Herculean labor’ of weaning the country off faxes. Shortly thereafter, Hesse’s Prime Minister, Boris Rhein, visited Athens on his own fact-finding mission. Germany, renowned for its industrial technological modernization but not for its public administration, is finally seeking practical and implementable solutions, and Greece appears to have exactly what they need. Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications group, also echoed this sentiment during a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stating that “Greece has surpassed Germany in digitalization.”
Three Key Lessons from Greece for Germany
- Digitalization Means Process Redesign, Not Just On-Screen Transfer: Many governments make the mistake of simply digitizing old, inefficient processes without fundamentally rethinking them. “That’s how you digitalize chaos,” explains Professor Diomidis Spinellis to The Economist. Germany’s 2017 digital access law focused on the ‘screen’ but neglected the underlying processes. Greece, conversely, prioritized reorganization before technology, rewriting processes from scratch wherever possible.
- Eliminating Administrative ‘Silos’ and Centralized Authority: Each ministry and region often operates with its own customs and systems. Greece’s solution was radical: when Kyriakos Mitsotakis became Prime Minister in 2019, he gave strong authority to the digital minister. “Many fell asleep after the elections and woke up as employees of the Ministry of Digital Governance,” notes Mr. Pierrakakis, describing how entire IT departments were transferred from other ministries to his. Both strategy and implementation were centralized, a crucial element often lacking in Germany’s federal structure.
- Focusing on ‘Easy and Useful’ Before ‘Huge and Difficult’: Germany attempted to digitize all services with equal priority, from simple address changes to applications for nuclear power plant operations. In Berlin, the effort to transfer the archiving system to a digital equivalent created an electronic ‘monster file’ with over 1,000 functions, causing repeated delays. The Greek approach was more measured and practical: identify critical pain points and implement solutions gradually and flexibly, focusing on continuous improvement rather than grand, never-ending projects.
The Berlin Example: A Glimmer of Hope
For those unable to travel to Athens, Berlin now offers its own ‘Greek’ success story. Martina Klement, the new head of digital policy in Berlin, is applying lessons from the Greek experience with impressive results. Basic procedures like address registration are now digital and straightforward. Over 400 services are available online, with the most popular ones digitized first. Berlin residents, often skeptical that electronic services actually work, sometimes need awareness campaigns to encourage their use. “We need campaigns now to encourage them,” notes Ms. Klement. “Europe, which has lagged behind, should see this as a call to action.”
The message is clear: if Berlin can digitalize, then anyone in Europe can, as The Economist’s analysis concludes. Greece’s journey offers a compelling blueprint for other nations seeking to modernize their public administration, demonstrating that with strategic planning, strong political will, and a focus on user-centric design, even the most entrenched bureaucracies can be transformed into efficient, digitally-driven systems.
