Athens, May 28, 2025
The Greek Ministry of Digital Governance has addressed concerns raised by the Sacred Community of Mt. Athos regarding mandatory Personal Identification Numbers for Greek citizens.
In a letter signed by Minister Dimitrios Papastergiou, the ministry responded to questions from representatives of Mount Athos twenty ruling monasteries, who had expressed serious concerns about data protection and the necessity of the mandatory system.
The ministry explained that Personal Numbers are issued mandatorily to every person with a Tax Registration Number or Social Insurance Registry Number. The system aims to solve problems in citizen-government transactions, including delays, bureaucracy, and fraud from registry discrepancies.
Officials emphasized that proper citizen identification is critical for improving services and ensuring equal access to healthcare and social insurance, citing cases where vulnerable groups were denied rights due to registry errors.
Addressing Mount Athos’ security concerns, the ministry outlined protective measures including approval from Greece’s Personal Data Protection Authority in February 2024. The registry contains only “absolutely necessary data for secure identification” with technical and organizational protections detailed in an Impact Assessment Study.
The ministry referenced EU data protection regulations, stating that personal data processing for identification is permitted when legally necessary and properly secured.
The government cited two main reasons for mandatory implementation: connecting public information systems for efficient services without requiring physical presence, and providing unified citizen identification using one number instead of multiple registry numbers.
Such issues, especially concerning the electronic identification cards that were finally introduced in Greece in 2023, have been a volatile issue for decades. Holy elders such as St. Paisios have warned about them, and the clergy and the people have rallied against them a number of times over the years, including several rallies leading up to the roll-out of the new IDs.
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