In a letter sent today to the Permanent Representative of Greece to the Council of Europe, the presidents of the Conference of INGOs and of its Expert Council on NGO Law address Greece's Ministerial Decision (MD) No. 82876 on the Establishment of the "Register of Greek and Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)" and the "Register of Members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)", adopted recently and published in the Official Gazette of 11 May 2026.
They note that many of the concerns raised previously(*) regarding the NGO register have not been addressed with this new MD, for instance in relation to: a) the need for NGOs to register in order to operate in the service of international protection, migration and social integration in Greece, to cooperate with public authorities, to receive state or EU funding or operate in any manner whatsoever inside facilities of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, b) the inclusion of slanderous defamation in the list of misdemeanor offences that can lead to de-registration, which is problematic for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and advocacy work.
The letter invites Greece to reconsider the problematic aspects of the MD and ensure that NGOs undertaking vital work in the field of migration in Greece are not subject to undue direction, control or restriction by public authorities. Its authors would welcome the opportunity to discuss these matters further.
(*) see recent analyses on Greece by the Expert Council and CINGO's report of April 2026
