Tightening rules and NGOs
What has come to light about the children’s charity Ark of the World and very recently about the Social Kitchen – the Other Person is horrible, but let’s wait until justice decides. This is because, as Kathimerini columnist Xenia Kounalaki rightly noted recently, in 2018 we heard a lot in the news about the 16 aid workers and volunteers who were arrested in Lesvos and were described as the “dark activists of Lesvos” and “their involvement in an organized criminal network, for forgery, violation of state secrets, espionage and illegal possession of naval-type portable radios.” Then, on January 30, 2024, all 16 were acquitted.
Four years ago, a far-right frenzy over the activity of NGOs swept through the country and the government wanted to show that it was doing something
Based on that case, the conservative New Democracy government proceeded with one of its usual “reforms.” It established a state structure to “bring order to non-state organizations,” as it put it. The then minister of immigration, Notis Mitarachi, told Parliament in February 4, 2020: “We are establishing the Register of Members of Nongovernmental Organizations and, in this way, we are tightening the oversight framework. With this process, we offer the public administration and competent authorities the institutionally necessary knowledge for the operation of Greek and foreign NGOs, which will no longer be impersonal.”
Of course, something similar already existed at the Ministry of the Interior since 2011 – the Register of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Public Utility Bodies. But four years ago, a far-right frenzy over the activity of NGOs swept through the country and the government wanted to show that it was doing something. Thus, it established the Special Secretariat for the Coordination of Involved Bodies, with a special secretary, non-permanent staff and all the accompanying expenses. Since then, nobody has heard anything from it.
The last thing we learned from the website of the Ministry of Immigration was that the special secretary accompanied the deputy minister of immigration and asylum responsible for integration, Sofia Voultepsi, on a tour of Epirus – in 2022. Ι have written before that the structure of the state is an abyss and the pledge to “tighten the law” is on permanent repeat with this government. We do not know what the secretariat in question offered, beyond meeting the public relations needs of the government. It was abolished in 2023 along with other special secretariats, while the NGO Registry Unit currently has 82 groups registered.
As I wrote at the time when the bill in question was being passed, “instead of boosting the populism of those who whip up fear of NGOs among the public, the government should deal with its work, which is the rapid processing of asylum applications and the repatriation of those who are not entitled to it. Unfortunately, wanting to win over voters, it is moving in the opposite direction.”
