The new application of the Ministry of the Interior was launched yesterday, which concerns the registration and transparency of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

Niki Kerameos published a related post on her official Facebook account.

“We put into operation the platforms on which the NGOs will register and submit all the information about their establishment, governing bodies, and operation. Thus, they can obtain tax reliefs and every citizen can be informed about any Organization he wishes”, states the Minister of Labor, among other things.

The post in detail:

“10 years ago, in 2013, a group of people and organizations involved in volunteering and charitable giving, we expressed the need for a full legislative framework of operation and transparency for NGOs (now Civil Society Organizations – CSOs).

The then Prime Minister Antonis Samaras asked me to participate in a law-making committee of the Ministry of the Interior under the Minister Yiannis Michelakis initially and Argyris Dinopoulos afterwards, and under the valuable guidance of the then Secretary General Angelos Syrigos, in which other representatives of legal science and public benefit organizations also participated .

The committee came up with a complete legislative proposal, which it handed over at the end of the term of the Samara Government. The SYRIZA Government completely ignored the proposal.

On the contrary, the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with a significant effort of the Minister Makis Voridis, the then Secretary General and current Deputy Minister Vivis Charalambogiannis, the Advisor to the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis, was pulled out of the drawers, enriched and became the law of the state.

Today, 10 years later, life brought it in such a way that, as Minister of the Interior, I could carry out the implementation of this legislative initiative. Yesterday, therefore, we put into operation the platforms on which the OCIPs will register and submit all the information about their establishment, governing bodies, and operation.

Thus, they can obtain tax reliefs and every citizen can be informed about any Organization he wishes. It certainly took time, but thanks to a chain of people and initiatives, as of yesterday, our country has, for the first time, a complete framework of transparency of CSOs. And I feel particularly honored and happy to have had the opportunity to complete the circle of a ten-year effort by many people, with a significant result.

Here, frequently asked questions and answers about the implementation of the new operating framework of the OCIPs”.