Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Education and Religion reached an agreement with a private company called Cisco for distance learning and the Webex platform, which would be used by the educational community to conduct distance learning courses in the context of restricted movement measures to combat Covid-19.
However, in violation of the rules of transparency and openness, the ministry did not post on its transparency website (Diavgeia) the two contracts it signed with Cisco, dated 13.3.2020 and 11.9.2020.
The Minister of Education, Niki Kerameos, claimed that she had no legal obligation to publicise the contract because it was classed as a donation, however this claim is not valid, since the relevant legislation (Article 2 of law 3861/2010 “Enhancement of transparency with the mandatory posting of laws and acts of government, administrative and self-governing bodies on the internet, Transparency Program, and other provisions“) provides that, “acts of acceptance of donations to the Greek State are posted on the internet.” The same applies to the next two contracts signed by the Ministry of Education with Cisco, dated 9.11.2020 and 4.12.2020.
In fact, according to law 4727/20 (“Digital Governance (Transposition in Greek Legislation of Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and Directive (EU) 2019/1024”)), non-posting or late posting on the internet of transactions that the law states should be published, “constitutes disciplinary misconduct for the body that issued it, or for the official who is responsible for the posting”.
This case presents as particularly problematic in the context of a proper and lawful functioning of government within the rule of law, as the Ministry of Education didn’t only violate transparency legislation, but also the GDPR and the legislation on personal data protection, as well as the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament in the context of parliamentary scrutiny.
The government and the administration must comply with the legal requirements of transparency and post relevant contracts on the internet for scrutiny by both civil society and the opposition.
However, in this case the Minister of Education and Religion, Niki Kerameos, violated the relevant legislation (Article 2 of Law 3861/2010) by not publishing the contracts signed with the company Cisco.
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