Public Participation in Decision Making (GR0013)

Enhancement of the consultation process in all levels (institutional/legal, operational, technical). More specifically the following areas will be improved:
- Institutional: Strengthening of current institutional/legal framework.
- Technical: The electronic system http://www.opengov.gr will be the focal point of information
provision and consultation conduction throughout the public sector. Also the functionality
offered for consultation of running consultations will be enhanced.
- Operational:
o Introduction of a unique methodology for deliberation conduction, which will apply to all public administration bodies.
o Adoption of a minimum consultation period.
o Highlight of best practices. Study of consultations with increased participation.
o Identification of consultations and submitted draft legislation. Existence of link between the consultation and final draft (a results table with the comments and suggestions that were accepted will be included). Adoption of same enumeration in both consultation provided and final draft, in order to better correlate
o Template for consultation results presentation.
o Annual assessment of results.
o Training and utilization of executives.
o Adoption of mechanisms for reaching and mobilizing citizens. CSOs will be invited to
actively participate in this process.
o Structured communication with all interested parties.
o Gradual integration of consultations at regional and local level (municipalities) on citizens’ everyday life issues.

Commitment 1.2. Public participation in decision making

Commitment Text:

Enhancement of the consultation process in all levels (institutional/legal, operational, technical). More specifically the following areas will be improved:

•       Institutional: Strengthening of current institutional/legal framework

•       Technical: The electronic system http://www.opengov.gr will be the focal point of information provision and consultation conduction throughout the public sector. Also the functionality offered for consultation of running consultations will be enhanced

•       Operational:

o   Introduction of a unique methodology for deliberation conduction, which will apply to all public administration bodies.

o   Adoption of a minimum consultation period. 

o   Highlight of best practices. Study of consultations with increased participation.

o   Identification of consultations and submitted draft legislation. Existence of link between the consultation and final draft (a results table with the comments and suggestions that were accepted will be included). Adoption of same enumeration in both consultations provided and final draft, in order to better correlate

o   Template for consultation results presentation.

o   Annual assessment of results.

o   Training and utilization of executives.

o   Adoption of mechanisms for reaching and mobilizing citizens. CSOs will be invited to actively participate in this process.

o   Structured communication with all interested parties.

o   Gradual integraton of consultations at regional and local level (municipalities) on citizens’ everyday life issues.

Milestones - Timescales

1.2.1  Regulation/legislation in place by end of December 2015.

1.2.2 Operational and technical improvements: gradual implementation, ending June 2016. There will be pertaining Action Plan by the end of 2014 (that will be published), followed be incremental implementation and deployment.

1.2.3 Preparation of a plan for public administration training, awareness raising and citizen mobilization (December 2014), which will include the needed steps for gradual application.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction

Supporting institution(s): National Center for Public Administration

Start date: December 2014                                                                              End date: June 2016

Commitment Aim:

This commitment forms part of Greece’s efforts at strengthening public participation, especially online, in decision making. It aims to improve participation in online consultations by consolidating the legal framework and improving operational and technical aspects required by the web platform. The government committed to establishing a minimum consultation period, introducing a consultation methodology for the public sector, devising a link between the consultation text and the final draft, and reaching out to mobilize meaningful stakeholder participation. Milestones for the above policy goals included:

●      New regulation/legislation regarding consultations by end of December 2015;

●      Operational and technical improvements by the end of June 2016; and

●      A training and awareness plan by the end of December 2015.

Status

Midterm: Limited

Overall, The Openwise IRM research team found evidence of limited completion for this commitment. Greece had not begun implementing regulation or legislation, although commitment does not require completion of legislative action until December 2015.

Greece had partially implemented operational and technical improvements. The Openwise IRM research team found evidence of limited consultations, but there were no adequate mechanisms for the Parliament to adopt findings from these consultations. The training and mobilization plan has limited completion. Although there was no official proposal for training, awareness-raising or citizen mobilization, the National Center for Public Administration provided some guidance and technical support to the teams tasked with implementing consultations in each ministry.

End of term: Limited

According to information The Openwise IRM research team gathered during the government’s interministerial OGP meeting, there was no further evidence to support the advancement of this commitment.^{[Note 3: “Government interministerial OGP” (meeting, The Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction, 31 Aug. 2016).]} Government officials confirmed that there had been no action regarding the launch of a new legal framework for online consultation. Members of the interministerial team that work for the National Center of Public Administration, which is responsible for operational updates to opengov.gr, mentioned some new technical improvements.^{[Note 4: Ibid.]} These included automatic update of statistical data, efforts to decentralize the system by allowing public agencies to run their own consultations, security upgrades to withstand malevolent cyber attacks, and training seminars for public employees that use the system. Not all of the above actions were specifically stated in the action plan, and the IRM researcher found that Milestone 1.2.2 has limited completion.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Did not change

Civic Participation: Did not change

This commitment aimed to establish a new law that would revise existing legislative framework and achieve concrete technical and operational improvements for online consultations. These improvements sought to establish minimum requirements of conduct, but the vague wording of the commitment combined with overlapping actions within milestones limited their potential effect on civic participation. Overall, the implementation of this commitment did not change the status quo regarding the organization, execution and impact of online public participation on the actual decision-making process. For example, the average period for consultations has not changed between 2014 and 2016, remaining at an average 10 days according to opengov.gr websites. Although consultation participants can access information on the parliament.gr website concerning the impact of their input, the only available feedback is a scanned .pdf report of limited value.^{[Note 5: See Hellenic Parliament public consultation report, http://www.parliament.gr/UserFiles/2f026f42-950c-4efc-b950-340c4fb76a24/d-ergopro-ekthesi-2_XPress_Hamster_temp.qxp.pdf.]}

Carried forward?

The improvement of the online open consultation service is included in the Third Greek National Action Plan. The scope of these improvements is similar to those of the previous plan. Improvements include legal and operational actions either rephrased or taken verbatim from the second plan. Specifically, the enhancement of the legal framework gives emphasis to establishing a methodology that would require concise official responses to participants regarding the extent to which their input influenced the consultation life cycle.