The findings of a major survey conducted by the Ministry of the Interior into the quality of public and local government services are a major setback for municipal authorities. Almost 65,000 citizens from all over the country visited the new digital platform and, among other things, rated municipalities on the condition of pavements, cleanliness, and green spaces.

Of the 184 municipalities for which a statistically sufficient number of responses were obtained, only 7 passed at the threshold, the base 5. The rest were deemed post-tested, with 63 municipalities scoring between 4 and 4.9, 102 getting just over 3, and 12 at the bottom. Note that municipalities were judged in 21 different areas of responsibility.

In this light, almost all municipal authorities should focus their actions on improving local road networks, pavements, parking areas, and waste recycling. However, strong concerns and thoughts of special handling by the government are raised by the data from the building services survey.

The low scores, coupled with recent corruption cases in regional planning departments, reinforce the view that these services should be returned to the central administration.

According to the findings of the large-scale poll, Glyfada, Alimos, Meteora, Kalamata, Kastoria, Elliniko – Argyroupoli and Argos Orestiko occupied the first 7 positions in the relevant list, garnering scores from 5 to 5.4.

The champion with 5.4 points was the Municipality of Glyfada. In total, it was rated by 863 citizens and took first place in the areas of digital services (6.4), roads (5.1), social services (6.8), KAPH (7.7), green spaces (6,5), playgrounds (6.5) and stray animals (5.6), while it was considered “passable” in parking (4.6), the condition of pavements (4.2) and infrastructure for the disabled (4.8). The Municipality of Alimos came in second place with an average of 5.2 points.
On the opposite side, the Municipality of Central Corfu scored the worst with 2.4. Residents highlight parking spaces, the condition of the streets, and cleanliness as key problems. Residents of the Municipality of Heraklion and Zante identify similar problems.

The large municipalities

The Municipality of Athens was rated by a total of 4,962 residents with an average of 3.4/10. The lowest scores and thus the biggest complaints were related to parking spaces, the condition of sidewalks and infrastructure for the disabled, while the services of the KAPI and the KEPs scored highest.

The Municipality of Thessaloniki is slightly better with 3.6/10, while Patra gets 3.3/10. Volos scores 4.4/10, Piraeus scores 3.8/10, and Larissa scores 4.7/10. Citizens also characterize the condition of the road network under the responsibility of their regions as problematic. Of the 13 regions, Attica, Northern Aegean, Thessaly, and Western Macedonia receive 4.3/10. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the Ionian Islands with 2.8/10 and Crete with 2.9/10.