Open-Participatory Budget (GR0054)

Context Some months ago, Regional Budget was not available to citizens. Recently, the Region of Western Macedonia, in application of the Greek Law L.4305/2015 regarding Open Data, started offering Budget execution files in XLS format via the website data.gov.gr. However, in order these Budget Data to be more useful and comprehensive, they must be presented in the Regional website in a more proper form (using tables, diagrams, comparisons to previous month/year etc). Regarding Civic participation in Budget formulation, this is limited, since their opinion is only claimed during the preparation of the Regional Operational Plan. Commitment Description Commitment refers to: a) publication of Budget Execution Data in a simple and comprehensive and b) active civic participation in decision making process for the allocation of a part of the Regional Budget. Data will be available in a raw form as well as in a table and diagrams format, including comparisons. Decision making process includes electronic polls and voting as well as consultation and deliberation meetings. Proposals will be evaluated and presented by Regional Officers to the Regional Council in order to get approval. During pilot period: The amount that will be allocated will be small (100,000.00 €/year). This amount will be increasing as the whole process matures and civic participation increases The amount will be allocated to promotional activities for the cultural/touristic product of the region. OGP Values Open-Participatory budget satisfies all 4 OGP values OGP Value Evidence/way of satisfaction Access to information 1. Raw information/data 2. Processed information/data Civic participation 1. Participatory budget 2. Proposal Submission 3. Proposal Voting Public Accountability 1. Detailed data presentation 2. Announcement of Proposal Evaluation Results Technology and innovation for openness and accountability 1. Use of a platform for Open Data Management as well as for Civic Participation Implementing Body Region of Western Macedonia (Contact information) Theodore Theodoropoulos Τel: +302461052728 e-mail: th.theodoropoulos@pdm.gov.gr Stakeholders involved Public Administration (Regional Authority) Citizens, Organizations and Institutions of the Civil Society, private sector, focused workgroups Objectives The objectives of the platform: 1. Provision of detailed Information to citizens 2. Active Civic Participation in Decision Making Process(e-participation/e-democracy) Means of Implementation Commitment relies on: 1. The technical solution (the platform) 2. Civic Participation in Decision making Process either via the platform or through consultation/deliberation

Commitment 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29: Commitments for Open Local Administration

Commitment 24: Open-Participatory Budget (Western Macedonia)

Commitment refers to: a) publication of Budget Execution Data in a simple and comprehensive and b) active civic participation in decision making process for the allocation of a part of the Regional Budget.

Data will be available in a raw form as well as in a table and diagrams format, including comparisons. Decision making process includes electronic polls and voting as well as consultation and deliberation meetings. Proposals will be evaluated and presented by Regional Officers to the Regional Council in order to get approval. During pilot period:

• The amount that will be allocated will be small (100,000.00 €/year).
• This amount will be increasing as the whole process matures and civic participation increases the amount will be allocated to promotional activities for the cultural/touristic product of the region.

Responsible institution: Region of Western Macedonia

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: January 2018

Commitment 25: Regional Council Platform (Western Macedonia)

The development and Operation of the Regional Council Platform will not only gather all provided services under one site but will also expand the services provided. More specific, the platform will provide the following:

• 1) All topics and introductions will be submitted to the platform (texts, not just titles). This material will be available to everyone. The option of providing extra material (tables, appendices, presentations etc.) will be under examination in order to ensure personal data protection.
• 2) Regional Council Members, using “member rights” will be able to express their opinion in a written way submitting it to the platform. Submitted opinions can be used for the formulation of Regional Council Minutes.
• 3) Citizens will respectively be able to express their opinion by submitting comments of by voting to polls.
• 4) Taxisnet authentication can be used for citizens’ login.
• 5) There will be a capability for citizens to submit questions/topics to be discussed. These questions will be voted and in case they overcome the threshold they will be discussed to the “Citizens time”, a special Regional Meeting Session that will be held once per two months or trimester.
• 6) There will be a capability for an automatic creation of detailed minutes as will as automatic submission upload to DIAVGIA
• 7) Existing YouTube Channel will be embedded to the platform providing live broadcasting as well as video on demand (VOD)
• 8) There will be an examination of the possibility that Regional Council Sessions can take place with remote participation of Regional Council Members (submissions of opinions/proposals, voting etc.). It requires amendment of the Regional Council Modus Operandi.

Responsible institution: Region of Western Macedonia

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: January 2018

Commitment 26: Open - Participatory Budget (Central Greece)

The commitment states:

• a) Publish in simple and understandable form the details of budget implementation (open budget) and the budget’s report (commitments, receipts, payments)
• b) The active involvement of citizens in decision making for allocating a certain amount of the budget, which will be determined while setting up the budget. This amount will be available for innovative actions that citizens and stakeholders propose and will be available for consultation (online and face to face meetings) The proposals will be evaluated and presented for approval by the Regional Council upon recommendation from the regional service.

During the session of the application:

• The amount available each year for actions will be determined when the budget structure. Specific consultation time will be provided with information to citizens and the region’s stakeholders according to international standards.
• The amount will increase as the process matures and the participation of citizens increase.
• The money will be directed to innovative actions for tourism / culture / social structures.

Responsible institution: Region of Central Greece

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: December 2017

Commitment 27: Capture and Evaluation Platform for Regional Technical Projects (Central Greece)

The development and the operation of the platform of projects on a map (google maps) will enable citizens to be informed about the projects carried out by the Region. Specifically, the platform provides the following capabilities:

• 1. All the projects carried out and supervised by the Region will be recorded on the platform giving the possibility to represent them on a map with qualitative and quantitative data about them. (Budget, year of integration, funding source, etc.).
• 2. The citizens will be able to search these projects performed by the region and to learn about them. 
• 3. Citizens will have an opportunity to express their views through comments and evaluate projects.

Responsible institution: Region of Central Greece

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: December 2017

Commitment 28: City Dashboard (Thessaloniki)

The Municipality’s City Dashboard will be an online platform that will aggregate and provide data and information regarding various organizational areas such as urban mobility, air pollution and environmental data, demographics, financial data and indexes, events, culture and tourism. The information will be provided through proper visualizations in order to be understandable and useful but also in a row data format so that it can be easily re-used. The Dashboard will present real-time information through adequate interfaces and web services but it will also exploit static forms of data. The Dashboard’s data will be provided also by other sources, beyond the operational scope of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, like the Academic and Research Institutions of the city or any other organization that could contribute by providing its own data.

Responsible institution: Municipality of Thessaloniki

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: April 2018

Commitment 29: Online Consultation Platform (Thessaloniki)

The Municipality’s online consultation platform will provide the ability for automated launching and completion of a consultation’s period, it will support content and comment management and it will maintain an archive with all completed consultations. Also, the users of the platform could use multiple criteria for searching and finding consultations, such as the category or the time period that a consultation took place. Moreover, the platform will generate relevant reports that will encompass comments, results and statistics for each consultation in order to be used by the Municipality’s administration.

Responsible institution: Municipality of Thessaloniki

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: February 2017

Editorial Note: The action plan text has been abridged by the IRM. For the full version, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-national-action-plan-2016-2018/

Commitment Aim:

This cluster of commitments reflects the efforts of three local administrations to pursue open government reforms. The Region of Western Macedonia, the Region of Central Greece and the Municipality of Thessaloniki aim to provide information and monitoring tools to their citizens, as well as platforms to enable them to have their say in decision making on budget allocation and on the proceedings of prefectural council meetings. Prior to these commitments local administration organizations made similar efforts mainly within an e-government context. Including these commitments in the OGP action plan purports to include elements of transparency and participation.  More specifically:^{[Note 210: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]}

• The Region of Central Greece (Commitment 24) aims to provide citizens with the opportunity to access detailed budget information with visual elements like tables, diagrams and monthly comparisons to shape informed opinion that will enable them to take part in participatory budgeting projects. The Region will develop a web-based participatory budgeting platform focused on promotional activities for the cultural and tourist part of the region.
• The Region of Central Greece (Commitment 25) aims to increase transparency, collaboration and participation in decision making by offering a web-based platform to facilitate the workings of the Regional Council. Citizens will have the opportunity not only to watch the regional council proceeding live, but also be able to submit their questions, and participate in polls and voting on certain issues.
• The Region of Central Greece (Commitment 26) aims to add participatory budgeting actions to extend its current budgetary transparency practice. Citizens will able to influence budget allocation to certain tourism, culture, and society projects. Moreover, citizens may introduce their own project proposals to the Regional Council.
• The Region of Central Greece (Commitment 27) aims to provide citizens with a web-based platform to monitor performance of regional public infrastructure projects. Citizens will have the opportunity to actively search information, express their opinions, and evaluate the projects by submitting their comments.
• The Municipality of Thessaloniki (Commitment 28) aims to move forward the mandatory open data policy (Law 4305/2014) by introducing a City Dashboard for the city of Thessaloniki. The dashboard will make use of existing publicly available datasets with the goal of providing citizens with aggregated and refined municipal information on issues such as urban mobility, environmental data, and cultural events.
• The Municipality of Thessaloniki (Commitment 29) aims to provide citizens with the opportunity to influence local decision making by submitting their comments and proposals in an online consultation platform.

Status

Commitment 24. Open, participatory budgeting (Western Macedonia)

Midterm: Not Started

The implementation of this commitment had not started during midterm. The Region of Western Macedonia had delayed the process of hiring the external vendor who would design and develop the participatory budgeting platform. According to the region’s own estimates, the commitment was expected to be completed beyond the original action plan timeframe towards December 2018.

End of term: Limited

The process of hiring an external vendor had not progressed within the action plan although, as recommended in the IRM midterm report, the Region met with Open Knowledge Greece that had developed an open source participatory budgeting platform.^{[Note 211: George Papageorgiou, IT department of the Region of Western Macedonia, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]} The Region of Western Macedonia managed to implement a small part of the original commitment using existing resources.^{[Note 212: Ibid.]} Citizens may access a web page entitled Open Budget and view graphs representing aggregate data on the regional budget. Currently income and spending data are available for each of the four regional units for 2017 and the first quarter of 2018.^{[Note 213: Region of Western Macedonia, Greece, Open Budget, http://www.pdm.gov.gr/opengov/open-budget/ ]} It remains unclear whether the Region of Western Macedonia will further develop this initiative by adding more data and participatory elements. For these reasons the implementation of this commitment is limited.

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 24. Open, participatory budgeting (Western Macedonia)

Access to Information: Marginal

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

With this commitment the Region of Western Macedonia aimed to further implement the five-year strategic plan (2015) for open government and provide citizens with the opportunity to take part in local participatory budgeting projects.

Through an open government website, the region initially offered e-consultations and an idea sharing feature.^{[Note 214: Region of Western Macedonia, Greece, Open Government (in Greek), http://opengov.pdm.gov.gr/ ]} The Region of Western Macedonia managed to implement a small part of the original commitment by creating a web page entitled Open Budget, which displays graphs representing aggregate data on the regional budget. Currently citizens can only view tables and graphs with aggregate data on public spending and budget implementation. Although this information was not available before this commitment, its provision represents an incremental step for improving access to information on local budget.^{[Note 215: Citizenlab, “8 Steps for effective participatory budgeting”, https://www.citizenlab.co/blog/civic-engagement/steps-to-effective-participatory-budgeting/ ]} Due to the fact that the Region of Western Macedonia has not yet introduced participatory budgeting online tools and processes to gather public input, there is no change in practice as far as civic participation is concerned.

Commitment 25. Regional Council Platform (Western Macedonia)

Midterm: Not Started

The implementation of the Regional Council Platform had not started because the Region of Central Macedonia delayed hiring an external developer.

End of term: Limited

The process of hiring an external vendor to develop the Regional Council Platform did not make progress until July 2018. Instead, the Region of Western Macedonia decided to modify the scope of the commitment and implement it by using internal resources. Currently a tool to enable e-voting for the issues discussed in the Regional Council is under development. A first version of this tool is ready, however, the e-voting functionality will only be available, at least initially, to members of the Regional Council.^{[Note 216: George Papageorgiou, IT department of the Region of Western Macedonia, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]} This means that citizens will not be able to use the service and cast their votes. According to IT staff working for the Region, it could be technically feasible to extend the e-voting system to citizens.^{[Note 217: Ibid.]} It remains unclear whether the Region of Western Macedonia will introduce citizen participation elements in the Regional Council Platform in the future.

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 25. Regional Council Platform (Western Macedonia)

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

Prior to this commitment, citizens had no opportunity to attend or participate in the regional council proceedings. Through this commitment the Region of Western Macedonia aimed to provide citizens with the means to actively participate in the regional council proceeding by virtually attending its meetings and submitting questions and votes. Since the regional council platform is still under development there is no actual change in local government practice.

Commitment 26. Open, participatory budget (Central Greece)

Midterm: Limited

Although some initial open budgeting data were already available on a special regional website,^{[Note 218: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]} the implementation of this commitment was delayed. According to officials from the Region the participatory budgeting website was under development and its launch was expected by the end of 2017.^{[Note 219: Dimitris Stamatis, consultant in the Region of Central Greece, interview with IRM researcher, September 2017.]}

End of term: Limited

The Region of Central Greece has developed a first version of the participatory budget platform.^{[Note 220: Region of Central Greece, Participatory Budget platform (under development) (in Greek), http://pbplatform.crowdapps.net/sterea/]} According to a consultant in the office of the Regional Governor, the website is not officially available yet because some improvements are still pending. The consultant reported that the launch of the platform was expected by late October 2018 in parallel with the voting process for next year’s budget.^{[Note 221: Dimitris Stamatis, consultant in the Region of Central Greece, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]} It remains unclear whether the platform will host participatory budgeting projects before the end of 2018. Thus, the implementation of this commitment is limited.

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 26. Open, participatory budget (Central Greece)

Access to Information: Marginal

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

Before this commitment there were no options available for citizens to access information and share their views on the budget of the Region of Central Greece. The Region committed to create a web-based platform for open participatory budgeting.

The Region of Central Greece released aggregate data on budget execution and public spending, but the participatory budgeting initiative is planned towards the end of 2018. The IRM researchers consider the provision of budget data a small step forward that improved access to information. However, civic participation has not changed because the participatory budgeting project is not available yet.

Commitment 27. Capture and evaluation platform for regional technical projects (Central Greece)

Midterm: Complete

The region of Central Greece launched a website presenting public projects. These are currently implemented in the format of a live Google map.^{[Note 222: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]} This application fulfills the completion of the commitment as citizens may retrieve aggregate information on projected budget and actual spending for projects. Also, citizens may use a tool to rate project implementation based on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.^{[Note 223: Ibid.]} The commitment could be further enhanced if the application interoperated with other IT systems (e.g public contracts).

End of term: Complete

There was no further progress in advancing the completion of this commitment during the end-of-term period. The IRM researchers found that at the time of writing this report, the number of published technical projects remained the same as it was in 2017.^{[Note 224: Projects and Actions of the Region of Central Greece web platform (in Greek), http://hello.crowdapps.net/perifereia-stereas-elladas/in-table/]}

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 27. Capture and evaluation platform for regional technical projects (Central Greece)

Access to Information: Major

Prior to this action plan, it was difficult for citizens who wished to know about Central Greece public spending in technical projects to follow implementation information. With this commitment the Region of Central Greece provided an electronic platform where citizens can view maps and tables presenting the allocation of technical projects at the Regional level and across the three regional units of Viotia, Evia, and Evritania.^{[Note 225: Works and Actions of the Region of Central Greece website (in Greek), http://hello.crowdapps.net/perifereia-stereas-elladas/]} According to Michalis Vafopoulos, a researcher with the Open Data Institute, this practice is a breakthrough that gives new capabilities for citizens to take advantage of public spending data.^{[Note 226: Michalis Vafopoulos, Software and Knowledge Engineering Laboratory, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Founder, Open Data Institute – Athens Node, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]}

Commitment 28. City Dashboard (Municipality of Thessaloniki)

Midterm: Substantial

The city of Thessaloniki implemented this commitment at a substantial level. Citizens were able to use an open data content management system and view charts about e-government services, the utilization of photovoltaic systems^{[Note 227: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]} in 50 school buildings in Thessaloniki, and the implementation of local budget.

End of term: Complete

The city of Thessaloniki fully completed this commitment. The municipality of Thessaloniki extended the initial open data dashboard and launched the Thessaloniki Risk Data Portal.^{[Note 228: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Risk Data Portal (in Greek), https://opendata.thessaloniki.gr/el]} The portal has been initiated by the Urban Resilience Initiative for Thessaloniki in collaboration with the World Bank. The website has been deployed with the technical support of the CSO Open Knowledge Greece and the firm EO Farm (PC), and is jointly managed by the GIS and e-Government departments of the municipality.^{[Note 229: More information about the Thessaloniki Risk Data Portal partners,  http://riskdata.thessaloniki.gr/portal_about ]} The portal features a catalog of geospatial risk data aiming to help the community of risk stakeholders improve the resilience of the city of Thessaloniki.^{[Note 230: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Risk Data Portal (in Greek), https://opendata.thessaloniki.gr/el]} The municipality of Thessaloniki also launched a Spatial Data Infrastructure Portal (SDI) in which citizens can search, view and download geospatial data.^{[Note 231: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Spatial Data Infrastructure portal, https://gis.thessaloniki.gr/sdi/intro/?lang=en_GB ]} The portal implementation aligns the city of Thessaloniki with the Inspire Directive of the EU and provides a map viewing service in which citizens can select and visualize on a layered map datasets such as public transportation, cycling routes, fire stations, and electoral sectors.^{[Note 232: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Spatial Data Infrastructure data explorer, https://gis.thessaloniki.gr/sdi/?lang=EN ]}

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 28. City Dashboard (Municipality of Thessaloniki)

Access to Information: Major

The open by default policy mandated by Law 4305/2014 requires public agencies to release their datasets in open formats that are readable by humans as well as machines.^{[Note 233: Open Data Law 4305/2014 (in Greek), http://www.minadmin.gov.gr/?p=11238]} However, in many cases published data are hardly usable by citizens, either because of the low technical quality of the data or the poor presentation on the website.^{[Note 234: Central Repository of Greek Public Sector Data (in Greek), http://data.gov.gr]} To solve this problem the city of Thessaloniki, in partnership with the World Bank and the Open Knowledge Foundation, enabled its constituents to explore 123 datasets that concern the economy, education, environment, health, public services, transportation, recreation and population.

Stakeholders that are involved in managing risk can now access rainfall damages records,^{[Note 235: Rainfall Damages, Municipality of Thessaloniki, Risk Data Portal (in Greek), http://riskdata.thessaloniki.gr/layers/geonode:eyath_rainfall_data_1 ]} air pollution records,^{[Note 236: Air pollution records 2010 to 2013, Municipality of Thessaloniki, Risk Data Portal (in Greek), http://riskdata.thessaloniki.gr/documents/47 ]} and forest fire records in Thessaloniki,^{[Note 237: Forest fires in Thessaloniki, Municipality of Thessaloniki, Risk Data Portal (in Greek), http://riskdata.thessaloniki.gr/documents/67 ]} among other datasets. Some datasets can be viewed in OpenStreetMaps, which is an example of volunteered geographic information that is used in crises mapping projects to allow large numbers of people, including the public and crisis responders, to contribute information either remotely or from the site of the crisis.^{[Note 238: OpenStreetMap Software for viewing maps, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/OpenStreetMap#/Software_for_viewing_maps ]}

Michalis Vafopoulos, an expert on open data, notes that this commitment has significantly changed local government practice by breaking the status of inertia evident in the past and opening new possibilities for citizens to use datasets and available information.^{[Note 239: Michalis Vafopoulos, Software and Knowledge Engineering Laboratory, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Founder, Open Data Institute – Athens Node, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]}

Commitment 29. Online consultation platform (Municipality of Thessaloniki)

Midterm: Substantial

The city of Thessaloniki implemented this commitment substantially. Both the regulatory framework of the consultation website and the web-based platform itself were available within the commitment timeframe. The commitment was due to be complete after the consultations took place. For more information, please see the 2016-2018 midterm IRM report on the Greek action plan.^{[Note 240: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]}

End of term: Complete

This commitment has been completed. The municipality of Thessaloniki launched its first electronic consultation in November 2017.^{[Note 241: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Municipal Consultations webpage (in Greek), https://goo.gl/s2izoJ]} The topic of the consultation concerned the improvement of the electronic services and the municipal website. Citizens had to answer a short questionnaire^{[Note 242: Municipality of Thessaloniki, Website and e-services evaluation questionnaire (in Greek), https://goo.gl/e9QaBg]} to rate the provision of e-services and submit their suggestions for increasing efficiency. According to the consultation introductory text, the data and opinions that will be collected from this deliberative survey will create the framework for the qualitative improvement of both e-services and the municipal website.^{[Note 243: The introductory consultation text (in Greek), https://thessaloniki.gr/consoltation_e-services/ ]} The city also offers citizens the option to provide comments on the pilot operation of the municipal consultation website. This option is available only for citizens that have been registered on the platform.^{[Note 244: Registration page of the consultation website (in Greek), https://thessaloniki.gr/register/ ]}

Did It Open Government?

Commitment: 29. Online consultation platform (Municipality of Thessaloniki)

Access to Information: Did Not Change

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

Often there is little opportunity for citizens to engage with policymakers on local policy issues. The city of Thessaloniki tried to close this gap by providing an electronic consultation platform. Although an electronic consultation was launched in November 2017, there has been no public announcement about who participated and expressed views. The IRM researchers contacted the Vice Mayor to request further information about the results of this commitment but received no response.^{[Note 245: IRM researchers’ telephone call to the office and personal email of Vice Mayor Nikos Fotiou, 27 and 28 September 2018.  ]} Therefore, there is not enough evidence to prove any changes in access to information and civic participation.

Carried Forward?

Because of the pending status of the new action plan it remains unclear whether local governments in Greece will be joining the co-creation process and submitting new commitments. The Region of Western Macedonia stated that it could continue its efforts to complete commitments 24 and 25 using its own human resources and technical capacity.^{[Note 246: George Papageorgiou, IT department of the Region of Western Macedonia, telephone interview with IRM researcher, September 2018.]}