By Helena Galaris

Personal reasons citing the president of the Personal Data Protection Authority Konstantinos Menoudakos, who leaves after 9 years on the head of the Independent Authority.

At a press conference, the outgoing president, who has also served as President of the Council of State, said that he had resigned in the third ten days of March “for purely personal reasons, who have nothing to do with issues regarding the operation of the Authority,”

“No political intervention was attempted, as they knew that there would be no effect, neither as a judge I accepted political intervention, nor as chairman of the Council of State, despite the fact that the court was concerned with very serious cases, such as the memorandums and others. The Authority has performed her work without pressure, does not make politics and does not legislate. “

The outgoing president said:

“The truth is that in Greece the strengthening of the Independent Authorities and the concern for their effective operation is not a priority of governments. As Professor Spyros Vlachopoulos is used to saying, who is a member of our Authority, the parties love independent authorities when they are in the opposition and challenge them when they are in government. Sometimes, I add, the challenge is expressed by statements that give the impression of pressure or threats that undermine their prestige and credibility. It seems that in Greece it has not been embedded in the consciousness of the political system that in the mature democracy counterweight of power are not only the courts, but also the independent authorities, at least the constitutionally foreseen, in the context of the responsibility of each“

Referring to the fines imposed by the Authority, Mr Menoudakos pointed out that from 2019-2025 fines of EUR 36,586,149 were imposed, stating that the amount does not include the fine of 20 million euros imposed in 2022 on ClearView, which receives non-processing services for persons, It is collected because corresponding fines have been imposed by other countries.

In the seven-year period 2018-2025, 9,069 complaints of personal data breach (only in 2025 until now the number has reached 622), from which 6,916 were carried out.