Digitalisation milestone: Athens municipality goes 100% online

The project to digitalise all municipal services took local authorities less than three years to complete

Yesterday, authorities in the city of Athens announced that with the start of 2023, 100% of municipal services are now available online. According to Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, the city was able to complete its digital government programme in the span of 35 months or nearly three years.

Now, the Greek capital can offer all its 207 services directly to citizens with reduced processing times. In this timetable, authorities say that the Development Company of Computerization of the Municipality of Athens (DAEM) was able to advance at a rapid pace, with a new service coming online roughly every 5 days.

Athens is changing gears

According to an official statement, local authorities in the Greek capital are proud of reaching this milestone in smart city development. It signals the end of inconveniences for citizens and professionals, but it also shows a sign of shifting gears in the municipality, as digitalisation is a big project that was completed quite rapidly.

The City launched the digitalisation campaign around the start of 2020. Now, some of the services people can use 100% online include the opening of a family share, searching for planning permits, issuance of a certificate, taxes, insurance and even legalising a civil marriage license.

Mayor Bakoyannis was quoted in a press statement, explaining that Athens is a leading Greek municipality in terms of digitalisation, showing that good planning can transform a city. He continued: “Through digital Athens, we ensure resources, efficiency, transparency, reduced environmental impact. Above all, however, we offer the possibility to Athenians to gain valuable time in their daily life.”

According to DAEM, the Athenian digital municipality receives 400 electronic applications per day, while in the past three years over 194,000 citizens and businesses have already registered on the platform.