Pillar 04

Give Power Back to Communities

AURIO will introduce direct democratic institutions in every Greek municipality. Citizens' assemblies, participatory budgeting and open governance will give residents real decisions over real budgets. Not consultation. Decision making power.

Inspired by Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, Nicos Poulantzas, Yves Sintomer, Janet Biehl & Archon Fung

Press Q T C P M W E to jump to a section. B to go back.

Keyboard shortcuts on this page: Q jumps to The Problem, T to The Thinking, C to The Proof, P to The Proposals, M to Where the Money Comes From, W to What Changes for You, E to Go Deeper, and B returns to the Programme index.

The Problem

Seven thousand cities let citizens decide. Greece has zero.

7,000+ Cities worldwide use participatory budgeting
0 Greek cities with participatory budgeting
€0 New money needed. It is a governance reform.
The Thinking

Who argued this, and why it holds.

Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, Nicos Poulantzas, Yves Sintomer, Janet Biehl & Archon Fung

Libertarian municipalism. Democracy is something people do together, not something they elect.

Murray Bookchin spent five decades arguing that the problem with democracy is not bad representatives. It is representation itself. His libertarian municipalism proposes that citizens should govern directly through assemblies at the scale where face to face democracy actually works. The town. The neighbourhood. The commune.

Cornelius Castoriadis called this the project of autonomy. A society that recognises it made its own institutions and can remake them. Nicos Poulantzas went further. The state is not an instrument to be captured or abolished. It is a terrain whose legitimacy depends on representing every constituency under its rule. Both thinkers are Greek. Both argue that democratic pressure on the existing state is not a detour from democracy. It is the thing itself.

Yves Sintomer documented what happens when these arguments meet practice. Participatory budgeting, first run in Porto Alegre in 1989, now operates in over seven thousand cities worldwide. It improves spending efficiency, raises civic engagement and reduces corruption.

Greek municipalities have none of it. This pillar writes genuine decision making power over municipal budgets into Greek law. The first delivery would be Alexandroupolis under AURIO's 2028 mayoral mandate, with the model open to every Greek municipality.

The problem is not bad representatives. The problem is representation itself.

Murray Bookchin
The Proof

This is not theory. It runs somewhere today.

0 Greek cities with participatory budgeting
vs
7,000+ Cities worldwide with participatory budgeting

Over 7,000 cities let residents decide how public money is spent. Greece has not started.

The Proposals

What we will do. Concretely.

National Parliamentary Reforms

Popular Legislative Initiative activation

Draft and introduce implementing legislation to activate Article 103A of the 2019 constitutional amendment. AURIO's first parliamentary act in 2027.

What we'll do
  • Single-article bill drafted with legal scholars and civil society
  • Introduced to Parliament in the first session after the 2027 election
  • Cross-party coalition built for passage
Outcome

Popular Legislative Initiative activated by 2027, giving citizens a direct route to propose national legislation.

Funded by

No new money. Parliamentary drafting only. One article bill.

Participatory Budget Law

Legislation requiring all Greek municipalities above ten thousand inhabitants to allocate at least 1% of their annual budget through participatory budgeting by 2030. Modelled on France's national PB framework.

What we'll do
  • Central technical guidance office for participating municipalities
  • Quarterly assembly schedule, with extraordinary sessions for major decisions
  • Annual reporting on PB coverage and outcomes published
Outcome

Participatory Budget Law passed. All Greek municipalities above ten thousand inhabitants allocate at least 1% through participatory processes by 2030.

Funded by

Envelope B. Nonfinancial expert support, zero cash.

Diavgeia transparency rule for assemblies, sortition and participatory budgets

Every Citizens' Assembly (synéleusi politón), sortition body (klírosi) and participatory budget cycle established under this Pillar publishes to the Diavgeia register (Diavgeia, Law 3861/2010 as amended by Law 4727/2020). Without publication, decisions are void. The rule polices the assemblies before the assemblies police anything else.

What we'll do
  • Agenda published on Diavgeia ten days before each session
  • Minutes published on Diavgeia within seventy two hours of each session
  • List of selected members published with pseudonymisation, on the model of jury panels under Law 1756/1988 article 10
  • Conflict of interest declaration filed by each sortition member and published on Diavgeia
  • Non publication triggers automatic invalidity of the decision under Law 4727/2020 article 76; recourse to the Hellenic Ombudsman (Synigoros tou Politi, Law 3094/2003) and the Hellenic Council of State (Symvoulio tis Epikrateias, Constitution Article 95)
Outcome

Every assembly, sortition body and participatory budget cycle established under Pillar 04 publishes to Diavgeia. Non publication invalidates the decision. Legal anchor: Constitution Article 5A on the right to information; Law 3861/2010 as amended by Law 4727/2020; Law 3852/2010 Kallikrates Code. Precedent: Ireland Citizens' Assembly transparency protocol 2016 to 2023.

Funded by

Envelopes A, B and G. No new money beyond integration with existing Diavgeia API and municipal IT capacity.

Citizens' Audit Panels

Legislation allowing citizens in any municipality to form voluntary audit panels with legal access to budget execution data, contract awards, and staff appointments.

What we'll do
  • Transparency requirements for all municipal spending, published in real time
  • Mandated delegates, not autonomous representatives, for inter-municipal coordination
  • Legal right to submit findings to AADE, the Court of Audit (Elegktikó Synédrio, Law 4129/2013 Article 3), and the Hellenic Ombudsman (Synigoros tou Politi, Law 3094/2003 Articles 1 to 4) for maladministration complaints when AADE does not act
Outcome

Citizens' Audit Panels legislated. Any municipality can form a voluntary panel with legal access to budget data, contracts, and appointments.

Funded by

No new money. Parliamentary drafting only. Implementing framework drawn from Envelope B.

Votes at 16

Young people old enough to work and pay taxes are old enough to vote on the decisions that shape their lives. Constitution Article 51 paragraph 3 fixes the voting age 'by law', not in the Constitution itself. Greece already lowered the national voting age from 18 to 17 by ordinary legislation (Law 4406/2016). A further amendment to 16 for municipal and regional elections, through the Municipal Elections Code, follows the same route and requires no constitutional revision under Article 110.

What we'll do
  • Voting age lowered to 16 for municipal and regional elections by ordinary amendment to the Municipal Elections Code, on the Article 51 paragraph 3 'fixed by law' route already used by Law 4406/2016
  • No change to national or European election age in the first stage. Stage two alignment of the national voting age with the municipal age parked for a future legislative cycle, conditional on impact assessment after the first municipal cycle
  • Civic education updated in secondary schools to match, in coordination with the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP), with consultation by ENPE, KEDE, the Greek Youth Council, ETERON and the Hellenic League for Human Rights
  • Independent impact assessment commissioned from a Democritus University, Panteion and EKKE academic consortium after the first cycle
Outcome

Legislation lowering the municipal and regional voting age to 16 drafted within the 2027 to 2028 parliamentary cycle and in force for the 2029 elections. Austria has done it since 2007, Scotland since 2014, Wales since 2020 and the United Kingdom since 2025.

Funded by

No new money. Parliamentary drafting only. Civic education update absorbed in existing curriculum cycle, with optional ESF+ early years and school age top up for the IEP module.

Open by Default policy and National Public Code Repository

Every new public information system is developed under an 'open by default' principle: public source code repository, registration for reuse, security by design, documentation. An extension of Law 4727/2020 on digital governance. Aligned with the eight UN Open Source Principles (adopted by the Digital Technology Network of the UN Chief Executive Board in early 2025) and the 'Public Money, Public Code' principle. Reference models: France's code.gouv.fr (founded 2018, catalogue of over 25,000 repositories) and Italy's Developers Italia (developers.italia.it). Implementing body: GRNET (ΕΔΥΤΕ) in partnership with HDIKA (ΗΔΙΚΑ, the social security e-governance entity).

What we'll do
  • First year legislative intervention requires source code publication for every new public information system, under an OSI compatible 'open source' licence (EUPL-1.2 preferred), with limited security exceptions documented on Diavgeia
  • National Public Code Repository implemented by GRNET on open infrastructure (Forgejo, GitLab CE), catalogue of all published repositories plus a 'repository starter pack' including README, LICENSE, CONTRIBUTING, SECURITY.md
  • Phased path for legacy systems: a three year transition period during which any revised release ships with published code
  • Public software procurement policy strengthens open standards and anti vendor lock in criteria under Law 4412/2016
Outcome

National Public Code Repository operational from year two. Every new public system open from inception. Phased onboarding of legacy systems within three years, accelerated modernisation, independent third party security review.

Funded by

Envelopes B and H. RRF Component 2.2 (Digital Transformation). Repository build cost ~€2M initial, ~€0.8M per year for operation.

Mandatory Municipal Citizens' Assembly Law

Amendment to Law 3852/2010 (Kallikrates Code) requiring every Greek municipality with registered population above 20,000 to establish and operate a citizens' assembly. Approximately 65 of Greece's 325 municipalities meet the threshold. Scales the Alexandroupolis pilot from a programme to a right protected against political reversal.

What we'll do
  • At least 40 members selected by stratified random sampling annually
  • At least six plenary sessions per year with independent secretariat
  • Mandatory written response from the municipal council within 60 days of each formal recommendation
  • 0.5% of annual municipal operating budget allocated to assembly costs, supplemented by national equalisation grant for sub median revenue municipalities
  • Annual Ministry of Interior compliance monitoring report
Outcome

Kallikratis amendment passed in 2028 parliamentary cycle. First compliance cycle within 12 months of enactment. Population threshold reviewed downward to 10,000 in year three based on first cycle data.

Funded by

Envelope B (TSI nonfinancial expert support for legal design) and Envelope C (ESF+ social inclusion) for municipal implementation grants.

Article 44 constitutional revision: expand referendum scope

Constitutional revision under Article 110 to expand permissible national referendum scope to major infrastructure, environmental planning and energy siting decisions above defined thresholds. Introduces a citizen initiated referendum pathway (500,000 signatures) and constitutionally entrenches municipal and regional referendums on the Kleisthenis I Law 4555/2018 model. Multi year strategy: three fifths parliamentary initiation in 2027, ratification by the next Parliament after a general election.

What we'll do
  • Draft revision text published with comparative legal analysis citing at least five EU Member States with broader referendum frameworks
  • Three constitutional law academic legal opinions commissioned
  • Parliamentary motion to open the Article 110 revision procedure
  • Cross party coalition built to reach 180 vote three fifths threshold
  • Ratification by the next Parliament elected after the general election
Outcome

Revision proposal tabled in 2027 Parliament. If 180 vote threshold met, revision becomes mandate for the next Parliament. Long cycle reform opening the national debate on direct democracy.

Funded by

No direct cost. Parliamentary drafting and legal opinion costs absorbed in party operating budget. Envelope B (TSI) available for comparative legal work.

Party Internal Democracy Act

Amendment to Law 3023/2002 on party registration and financing imposing minimum internal democracy standards on all parties receiving public funding. AURIO adopts the three core requirements as internal party rules immediately, before legislation passes, demonstrating the model.

What we'll do
  • Mandatory internal candidate selection by party members for all electoral lists, by secret ballot of registered members
  • Public transparency of internal finances at every territorial level of the party, not only central
  • Published party programme at the opening of each electoral campaign with specific measurable commitments tracked against governing performance
  • Compliance with the three requirements becomes a condition of state party funding
  • AURIO publishes its full internal accounts and candidate selection procedures within three months of each election
Outcome

AURIO internal rules in force before 2027 candidate filing. Draft amending bill introduced 2027. Enactment target 2029 or continued advocacy if blocked by other parliamentary parties.

Funded by

No direct cost. AURIO legal team drafting. Advocacy coalition with Transparency International Greece, ETERON and the Hellenic League for Human Rights.

Ostrom Governance Standard

Elinor Ostrom's eight design principles introduced as the universal legal filter for any publicly funded commons body in Greece across all sectors. New article in each of Law 4513/2018 (energy communities), Law 4673/2020 (cooperatives), Law 3329/2005 (hospitals), Law 4823/2021 (education governance). Public money for any body claiming commons governance flows only to bodies that demonstrate annual compliance with the eight principles.

What we'll do
  • Annual Ostrom compliance declaration submitted to the relevant regulatory authority (RAAEY for energy, Cooperative Supervision Authority, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education)
  • Implementing regulations developed by each authority within 12 months of the law's entry into force
  • Non compliance results in suspension of public benefits pending remediation, not automatic deregistration, consistent with Ostrom principle five graduated sanctions
  • External verification by civil society body or independent auditor required, not self assessment alone
  • AURIO adopts the filter as an internal quality standard for any community organisation it supports or endorses
Outcome

Legislative package introduced first session of 2027 parliamentary term. First compliance declarations due 2028. First evaluation 2029. Constitutional basis Article 106.

Funded by

Envelope B (TSI nonfinancial support for sector specific compliance tools). Envelope G (Horizon CL2) for research validation. Operating costs absorbed by existing regulatory authority budgets.

European EU Treaty revision and transnational citizens' initiatives

Greek parliamentary resolution for Article 48 TEU Convention

Formal resolution to the Greek Vouli calling for Greece to request the opening of an Article 48 TEU Convention on EU Treaty revision, with the goal of granting the European Parliament a direct legislative initiative right. The European Parliament is the only directly elected legislature in a major democracy that cannot initiate legislation. The Conference on the Future of Europe (2021 to 2022) Proposals 38(4) and 39(4) explicitly called for this reform.

What we'll do
  • Resolution introduced to Greek Vouli within first parliamentary session after 2027 election
  • Coalition outreach to at least five other Member State parliaments (Nordic states, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland as natural partners)
  • Greek government position paper submitted to European Council ahead of 2028 to 2030 institutional review cycle
  • Coordination with Greens/EFA and progressive groups across the European Parliament
Outcome

Resolution debated in committee within six months of 2027 Parliament opening. Coalition of at least two other Member State parliamentary groups introduces equivalent resolutions within 12 months. Position paper tabled at Council 2028.

Funded by

No direct cost beyond parliamentary staffing. Greens/EFA group budgets fund coalition coordination. Greek civil society campaigns can apply to CERV Values strand.

European Citizens' Initiative on binding citizens' panels

AURIO coordinates an ECI under Article 11(4) TEU and Regulation (EU) 2019/788 calling for binding codecision rights for citizens' panels at EU level. Proposal: any successful ECI reaching one million verified signatures across seven Member States triggers a mandatory citizens' panel of 200 randomly selected EU citizens to deliberate for six months and produce a binding draft recommendation that the Commission must adopt as legislation or reject with reasoned qualified majority.

What we'll do
  • Coalition built with at least six civil society organisations in six other Member States
  • Organising committee of seven members resident in seven different Member States formed and notarised
  • ECI text legally reviewed and submitted to Commission for registration assessment
  • Online signature collection launched using the Commission's official collection system
  • Partnership with Sortition Foundation, newDemocracy Foundation and Democracy International for transnational signature infrastructure
Outcome

ECI registered by Commission in 2028. Signature collection complete by 2029, coinciding with the European Parliament institutional review cycle. Target one million verified signatures across seven Member States.

Funded by

ECI official Commission support service. CERV CITIZENS strand for transnational citizen engagement campaigns. Envelope G (Horizon CL2 DEMOCRACY-09) for the research consortium designing the citizens' panel model.

Municipal Municipal practice, first site Alexandroupolis (population 71,751, 2021 census)

Citizens' Assembly on the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal

A formal citizens' assembly to deliberate on community benefit obligations from the strategic energy hub serving nine countries.

What we'll do
  • Forty residents selected by stratified random sampling
  • Three weekend sessions across six to eight weeks
  • Facilitated by Democritus University of Thrace political science faculty or Greek Helsinki Monitor civil society partners, selected by open tender under Law 4412/2016 Article 20 (services contracts below EU thresholds)
  • Binding recommendation to the municipal council and national parliament
Outcome

Citizens' Assembly on the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal convened. Forty residents selected by sortition. Binding recommendation to the municipal council.

Funded by

Envelope A. €120,000 lump sum, no cofinancing.

eDiaLogos civic platform

A Trikala-style participatory civic platform for Alexandroupolis, covering consultation, complaints, and deliberation online.

What we'll do
  • Developed by local tech businesses as appropriate technology
  • All planning decisions above €100,000 require online consultation period
  • Demosthenes complaints system operational within six months of mayoral term
Outcome

eDiaLogos civic platform operational for Alexandroupolis. All planning decisions above €100,000 open to public consultation online.

Funded by

Envelopes E and F. Up to €600,000 combined. 15% municipal match on E only.

Democracy Thinking School

A twenty-week Freirean culture circle in Alexandroupolis training citizens in participatory governance. Delivers a draft participatory budget proposal as collective output.

What we'll do
  • Cohort 1 launches Month 4 of Year 1, 15 to 25 participants
  • Cohort 2 launches Month 13, facilitated by Cohort 1 graduates
  • From Year 3 onwards funded by the municipal adult education budget under Law 3879/2010 (Development of Lifelong Learning, Lifelong Learning Centres, approx. €15,000 to €25,000 annual allocation per municipality) plus the AURIO party training budget. LEADER CLLD remains a renewal route during each Evros LAG strategy cycle, and Interreg VI-A social cohesion priority is a cross border alternative
Outcome

Democracy Thinking School running two cohorts by Year 3. Graduates facilitate future circles. The school sustained from year three through the municipal Lifelong Learning Centre budget under Law 3879/2010, AURIO party training spend, and LEADER CLLD renewal at each Evros LAG strategy review.

Funded by

Envelope D plus AURIO party budget. Approx. €9,460 per cohort, two cohorts per year at steady state.

Municipal Participatory Budget

A structured participatory budgeting cycle at municipal scale, with a defined share of discretionary municipal budget decided directly by residents. AURIO's first site would be Alexandroupolis, the founding mayoral base, running the cycle before the national Participatory Budget Law completes parliamentary passage. Every Greek municipality carries the legal capacity under Law 3852 of 2010 to adopt the same mechanism.

What we'll do
  • Year 1 of mayoral term: first cycle covering parks and cultural programming budget
  • 15% of municipal investment budget decided by residents
  • Methodology documented openly for replication in any Greek municipality
Outcome

First participatory budget cycle complete within eighteen months of a mayoral term. Fifteen percent of municipal investment budget decided directly by residents.

Funded by

Envelopes C and I. Approx. €80,000 over three years, 15% municipal match.

Municipal recall mechanism

AURIO adopts an internal party rule: every AURIO candidate for municipal council signs a binding party commitment to submit to recall by 15% petition of municipality eligible voters within 12 months of election, after a 6 month cooling off period. National statutory mechanism follows: amendment to Law 3852/2010 establishing a municipal recall referendum triggered by petition, using the Kleisthenis I Law 4555/2018 referendum infrastructure.

What we'll do
  • AURIO internal recall rule signed by all AURIO 2028 municipal candidates before filing
  • 15% signature threshold of eligible voters within 12 months of election
  • 6 month cooling off period after each election
  • Successful petition triggers municipal referendum under Law 4555/2018; simple majority removes the councillor
  • Statutory amendment to Law 3852/2010 drafted in year two, submitted to Ministry of Interior for consultation in 2029
Outcome

AURIO internal recall rule in force from 2028 candidate filing. Statutory municipal recall mechanism drafted by 2029. Constitutional compatibility with Article 102 confirmed by pre introduction legal opinion.

Funded by

No new money. Party rule and statutory drafting only. Public information campaign absorbed in participatory democracy outreach budget.

The Money

Where the money comes from.

€480k–€830k Grants identified over five years
11 of 17 Proposals cost nothing new
€42k Maximum contribution from Alexandroupolis

Greece's democratic deficit is a governance problem, not a funding problem. Eleven of seventeen proposals cost nothing beyond parliamentary drafting time. The other six draw on EU programmes Greece is already a major beneficiary of: CERV at €1.55bn EU total, ESF+ at €5.3bn for Greece 2021 to 2027, RRF Greece 2.0 at €18.4bn in grants, and the East Macedonia and Thrace Operational Programme at €639M total public expenditure.

The full municipal participation programme, with Alexandroupolis as the first site, costs the municipality at most €42,000 in cofinancing across five years. Europe pays the rest. AURIO sequences small EU funded proof of concept grants (CERV Networks of Towns, ERDF digital services) into credibility for larger calls (Horizon Europe Cluster 2, Antonis Tritsis smart city). Nothing below requires new Greek taxation or a new Greek budget line.

Who Applies

How to reach the envelopes below.

  1. Alexandroupolis Municipality

    CEFI

    Direct to EYDAMTH for ERDF and ESF+ calls. To the Ministry of Interior for Antonis Tritsis. Municipal budget vote for discretionary and Green Fund lines.

  2. AURIO with municipal and cross border partners

    A

    Municipal led consortium of four applicants from four countries, at least two EU Member States. AURIO coordinates. Lump sum, no cofinancing.

  3. Democritus University of Thrace consortium

    G

    DUTH as lead beneficiary with European research partners (newDemocracy, Sortition Foundation) and Alexandroupolis municipality as first site.

  4. Ministries via AURIO parliamentary sponsorship

    BH

    Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Digital Governance sponsors the TSI request or RRF component allocation. AURIO parliamentary group co sponsors from 2027.

  5. Evros Local Action Group and civic partners

    D

    Strategy inclusion during the LAG midterm review 2025 to 2026. Municipal letter of support unlocks intangible subinterventions.

Full applicant's guide →

Where the money goes

Annual cost at full roll out, sorted by size. Each bar links to the proposal it pays for.

  • National
  • Municipal
  • European
  1. Open by Default policy and National Public Code Repository
  2. eDiaLogos civic platform
  3. Citizens' Assembly on the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal
  4. European Citizens' Initiative on binding citizens' panels
  5. Municipal Participatory Budget
  6. Democracy Thinking School

Total steady state envelope: €1.22m a year, drawn from the envelopes named in the funding map below.

Steady state envelope, by proposal

Annual cost at full roll out, in € millions. Envelope letters link to the funding sources below.

№Proposal€ m / yrEnvelopes
01Popular Legislative Initiative activation——
02Participatory Budget Law—B
03Diavgeia transparency rule for assemblies, sortition and participatory budgets—A, B, G
04Citizens' Audit Panels—B
05Votes at 16——
06Open by Default policy and National Public Code Repository0.80B, H
07Mandatory Municipal Citizens' Assembly Law—B
08Article 44 constitutional revision: expand referendum scope—B
09Party Internal Democracy Act——
10Ostrom Governance Standard—B
11Greek parliamentary resolution for Article 48 TEU Convention——
12European Citizens' Initiative on binding citizens' panels0.05G
13Citizens' Assembly on the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal0.12A
14eDiaLogos civic platform0.20E, F
15Democracy Thinking School0.02D
16Municipal Participatory Budget0.03C, I
17Municipal recall mechanism——
Steady state total1.22

Years one and two carry CERV, TSI, ESF+ and ERDF bridge financing under Regulations (EU) 2021/692, 2021/240, 2021/1057 and 2021/1058. From year three, the Alexandroupolis municipal budget under Law 3852/2010 Article 72, the municipal Lifelong Learning Centre allocation under Law 3879/2010, and renewed LEADER CLLD cycles via the Evros LAG carry the floor through Envelopes D and I.

Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV-2026)

€1.55bn EU total, €12M 2026 Networks of Towns call

  • Most directly relevant EU instrument for Proposals 3 and 5.
  • Lump sum mechanism means no cost tracking and no cofinancing.
  • Administered by EACEA centrally.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/692
Proposals funded
Citizens' Assembly on the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal (€120,000 lump sum). Audit Panel civil society capacity via the Bodossaki PLATO intermediary (€10,000 to €50,000 per partner)
Who applies
Municipal led consortium via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. AURIO coordinates with Alexandroupolis as lead
Window
CERV-2026-CITIZENS-TOWN-NT deadline 16 April 2026. PLATO next call expected 2026

Technical Support Instrument, DG REFORM

Nonfinancial expert support, 19 Greek projects approved in 2025 alone

  • Consultants, peer exchange and analysis rather than cash grants.
  • Zero cofinancing.
  • Participatory governance and citizen feedback mechanisms are accepted TSI themes for Greece: the 2023 Citizens' Satisfaction project and the 2022 Digital Public Services project are the precedent.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/240
Proposals funded
Participatory Budget Law design support. Citizens' Audit Panel governance framework. Popular Legislative Initiative technical design
Who applies
Greek government body (Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Digital Governance) as formal applicant. AURIO parliamentary representatives sponsor the request from 2027
Window
Annual TSI cycle, next window mid 2026 for 2027 projects

European Social Fund Plus 2021 to 2027, East Macedonia and Thrace Regional Programme

€165.5M regional ESF+ component, €5.3bn Greece total

  • Priority 4B covers social inclusion and innovative solutions for regions with inequalities.
  • Specific Objective 4a (€12.75M) targets social economy and civil society capacity building.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/1057
Proposals funded
Participatory Budget first-site implementation support (€50,000 to €200,000). Audit Panel civil society capacity building
Who applies
Alexandroupolis municipality as lead beneficiary, with civil society partners. 15% national cofinancing on East Macedonia and Thrace calls
Window
Priority 4B social cohesion calls ongoing through 2027. Next Alexandroupolis eligible call expected 2026 Q4

CAP Strategic Plan LEADER Community Led Local Development

€200M EU, €236M total public across 50 approved Greek Local Action Groups

  • Intangible subinterventions category (workshops, training, facilitation) up to €20,000 per project at 100 percent aid intensity for public bodies on noncommercial community activities.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 Articles 32 to 40
Proposals funded
Democracy Thinking School facilitation costs (€9,460 per cohort). Citizens' Assembly facilitation if not funded under Envelope A (€30,000 to €50,000)
Who applies
Evros Local Action Group partners. Municipal letter of support required for most subinterventions
Window
Evros LAG calls rolling. First AURIO eligible window 2026 Q4 or 2027 Q1

ERDF East Macedonia and Thrace Operational Programme 2021 to 2027

€473M ERDF component of €639M total public expenditure

  • Priority 1 Specific Objective 1ii (Reaping the benefits of digitisation) allocated €5M for digitisation of citizen services.
  • Priority 5 SO 5i urban €71M across six named Sustainable Urban Development plans including Alexandroupolis.
  • 85% EU, 15% municipal cofinancing.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/1058
Proposals funded
eDiaLogos civic platform (€100,000 to €250,000). Demosthenes complaints system (€20,000 to €40,000)
Who applies
Alexandroupolis municipality as lead beneficiary, applied via EYDAMTH
Window
Priority 1 digital citizen services calls 2026 to 2027. Priority 5 urban development calls aligned with the 2024 to 2029 municipal cycle

Antonis Tritsis Special Development Programme

€2.5bn municipal envelope, EIB backed via the Consignment Deposits and Loans Fund

  • National EIB backed scheme for municipal digital investment.
  • Zero cofinancing on loan component.
  • Effectively functions as a grant for most municipalities.
  • The single most direct national route for the eDiaLogos platform deployment.
Legal base
Law 3852/2010 Kallikrates Code. EIB facility agreements with CDLF
Proposals funded
eDiaLogos platform infrastructure and sensor streetlight first deployment (up to €2M in full form). Smart city digital services rollout
Who applies
Alexandroupolis municipality via CDLF zero interest loan, 30 year repayment from operating revenues
Window
New Antonis Tritsis cycle expected 2027. Maximum project budgets up to €130M per city under previous smart city calls

Horizon Europe Cluster 2, Democracy and Governance destination

€112.5M indicative budget for the 2026 Democracy and Governance round

  • Topic DEMOCRACY-09 (Lifelong learning of citizenship education and citizen participation) carries a €16M envelope across four expected grants.
  • Analogous funded project: PERYCLES received €3.27M for open source democratic deliberation software.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/695
Proposals funded
eDiaLogos platform research component and Citizens' Assembly methodology (DUTH led consortium, Alexandroupolis as first site). Estimated €3.5M to €4M per project, Alexandroupolis share approx €150,000
Who applies
Consortium led by Democritus University of Thrace with European research partners (newDemocracy Foundation, Sortition Foundation) and Alexandroupolis municipality as first site. AURIO cannot apply directly
Window
HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-DEMOCRACY-09 opens 12 May 2026, deadline 23 September 2026

National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0, Components 2.2 and 4.2

€1.28bn Component 2.2 Modernise, €189M Component 4.2 anticorruption capacity, €18.4bn grants total

  • Component 2.2 explicitly targets the digital transformation of public sector organisations including local government.
  • The Greek digital strategy portal lists an online collaboration platform for open governance as a medium term project in progress.
Legal base
Regulation (EU) 2021/241
Proposals funded
eDiaLogos civic platform funded as a municipal smart city module under RRF Component 2.2. Citizens' Audit Panels institutional capacity under RRF Component 4.2
Who applies
Ministry of Digital Governance via the Antonis Tritsis national programme (Component 2.2). Ministry of Interior for Component 4.2. AURIO parliamentary sponsorship from 2027
Window
RRF spending deadline under active negotiation with the Commission for 2026 and extended deadlines

Alexandroupolis Municipality and Green Fund (Prasino Tameio)

€30M to €50M annual municipal operating budget. Green Fund calls €50,000 to €2M per project

  • Municipal discretionary spending covers facilitation, meeting space, and civic technology subscriptions at €50,000 to €90,000 in the minimum viable programme if EU applications underperform.
  • The Green Fund's Innovative Actions with Citizens programme funded the Volos participatory budgeting pilot in 2019 (€120,000, 18 month cycle).
  • Urban regeneration calls funded community managed public spaces in Nea Ionia (€85,000, 2020) and Chania (€150,000, 2021).
  • Alexandroupolis uses the same route for the Citizens' Assembly fallback if CERV does not land and for the Demosthenes complaints system first phase.
Legal base
Law 3852/2010 Kallikrates Code Article 72 (municipal budget autonomy). Law 4964/2022 (Green Fund establishment and operation)
Proposals funded
Municipal Participatory Budget 15% cofinancing on Envelope C (€7,500 to €12,000 over three years). Citizens' Assembly fallback if CERV does not land (€30,000 to €50,000 municipal discretionary). Demosthenes complaints system first phase (€20,000 to €40,000 municipal IT)
Who applies
Alexandroupolis municipal budget vote for discretionary allocations. Green Fund applications submitted by the municipality via the national portal, rolling calls
Window
Annual municipal budget cycle aligned with mayoral term (2028 to 2033 for Alexandroupolis). Green Fund Innovative Actions calls rolling, next window expected 2026 Q4 or 2027 Q1
What Changes For You

The payoff is local, measurable, and soon.

  1. You decide how your municipal budget is spent.

    A defined share goes through participatory budgeting. You propose, debate and vote on where the money goes. Not a suggestion box. Binding decisions.

  2. Your priorities shape local policy.

    Citizens' assemblies give you a direct voice on major issues affecting your community, from energy infrastructure to land use.

  3. You can see where every euro goes.

    All municipal spending is published in real time, in formats anyone can read.

  4. Your representatives answer to you, not the other way around.

    Delegates to regional bodies carry the decisions of their assemblies. If they do not represent what was decided, they are recalled.

Go Deeper

The research behind the policy.

Where it has worked.

Trikala, Greece

The Greek precedent.

Trikala, a Thessalian city of 78,608 residents (2021 ELSTAT census), is Greece's first officially designated smart city and the only documented case of systematic digital civic engagement in Greek municipal governance. The eDiaLogos platform enables online votes on policy questions, consultations, and complaints. The Demosthenes system has processed around 4,000 citizen requests in a single year and reduced resolution times from months to days.

The infrastructure was built across ERDF, Horizon 2020, and now RRF funding cycles. Sensor streetlights cut electricity consumption by about 70 percent in pilot areas, recovering the system cost within two years. Trikala did all of this within existing Kallikratis law. No national legislation was required. Alexandroupolis, at 71,751 residents, is smaller.

Aisymi (Αισύμη), Greece

From 2026

Sortition tested at village scale.

Aisymi, the Evros village where AURIO was founded, is the small scale test bed before the rule scales to municipalities. The first sortition assembly was convened in 2026 to deliberate on the use of common land (koinόchristos agrós) under the Kallikrates Code (Law 3852/2010). No member was an elected official. Every member was drawn by lot from the village register, demographically stratified, with conflict of interest declarations published on Diavgeia.

The Aisymi pilot is the cultural anchor, not the delivery template. From 2027 the rule scales to municipalities with minority populations on a non negotiable inclusion floor: Komotini (Komotini, Rhodope) and Xanthi (Xanthi) carry stratified seats for the Muslim minority of Western Thrace under Law 694/1977 and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne minority provisions; Dendropotamos (Thessaloniki) and Zefyri (Attica) carry stratified seats for Roma communities under the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2021 to 2030 and the Greek Ombudsman as procedural guarantor on Constitution Article 103(9). International precedent: Spain Consejos de Participación in Barcelona (since 2018) with explicit Roma quota.

Porto Alegre, Brazil

Since 1989

Municipalism in practice.

Citizens directly decided how a portion of the municipal budget would be spent. World Bank evaluations documented measurable gains: sewer and water coverage rose from 75 percent (1988) to 98 percent (1997); the health and education share of the municipal budget climbed from 13 percent (1985) to 40 percent (1996); the number of housing units offered to residents rose from 1,700 (1986) to 27,000 (1989); the number of schools quadrupled after 1986. Participation grew from under 1,000 people in 1990 to 16,000 in 1998 and roughly 40,000 a year within the decade that followed.

The model has since been adopted in over 7,000 cities worldwide, with 11,690 documented cases across 71 countries on record by 2024. Even this partial implementation of Bookchin's vision produced measurable improvements across every indicator. The more decision making power you give to citizens, the better the outcomes.

Kerala, India

Real budgets. Real decisions.

Elected village councils, the panchayats, were given real budgets and real decision making power. The result: measurable improvements in sanitation, education infrastructure and public health, driven by the people who understood local needs best.

In Kuthambakkam, village president Elango Rangaswamy brought a radical proposal to the gram sabha. Fifty twin houses for one hundred families, deliberately pairing Dalit and non Dalit households, breaking caste segregation street by street. The assembly debated, accepted and built it. Tamil Nadu then rolled the model out as the Samathuvapuram scheme in 1997 to 1998; Kuthambakkam was the seventy seventh village to be funded.

When citizens have power, they build things no remote government would think to build.

Iceland

2010 to 2013

The crowd drafts a constitution.

After the 2008 banking crash, Act 90/2010 established a Constitutional Council of 25 delegates to draft a new constitution through open public participation. Anyone could contact the Council by mail, Facebook, phone or in person.

In the October 2012 advisory referendum on the draft, 66.9 percent of voters backed the proposal as the basis of a new constitution, on a turnout of 48.7 percent. Recurring public themes: accountability for elected officials, transparency, powers allocated to prevent corruption.

The political establishment ultimately blocked full implementation. Ordinary citizens wrote a better constitution than parliament was willing to pass. Bookchin drew a line between politics and statecraft. Politics is citizens governing themselves. Statecraft is professionals blocking them. Iceland is both.

The deeper argument.

Bookchin understood something that most political reformers miss. The problem with Greek democracy is not that the representatives are corrupt, incompetent or out of touch, though many are. The problem is that representation itself creates a gap between the governed and the governing that no reform can close. You cannot fix a system designed to exclude citizens from decision making by choosing better people to exclude them.

The answer is not better representatives. The answer is fewer decisions made by representatives and more decisions made by citizens directly.

AURIO does not propose to abolish representative democracy in Greece overnight. We propose to build direct democratic institutions alongside it, starting at the municipal level and demonstrating that citizens who are given real power over real decisions produce better outcomes than professionals governing on their behalf.

The direct democratic architecture is national, not regional. Law 3852 of 2010, the Kallikratis Code, gives every Greek municipality the legal capacity to run a participatory budget, a Citizens' Assembly, and a Citizens' Audit Panel. Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larissa, Volos, Ioannina, Kavala, Chania, Rhodes, and every smaller municipality in between carry the same legal base as Alexandroupolis. Trikala has already shown what is operationally possible inside existing Greek law, without any national legislation, using only ERDF, Horizon 2020, and RRF funding cycles. AURIO begins in Evros because that is where the party can win first. The architecture is for every Greek municipality whose residents have decided that professional government alone is not enough.

This is not idealism. Porto Alegre proved it. Kerala proved it. Iceland's citizens wrote a better constitution than their parliament was willing to pass. Trikala is proving it now, in Greek, within existing law. The evidence is overwhelming. The obstacle is not feasibility. It is political will.

The mechanisms in this Pillar connect explicitly to Pillar 09 (European Democracy). The ladder runs municipal sortition body, then national thematic assembly, then European Citizens' Initiative under Regulation (EU) 2019/788. A citizen drawn by lot in a Greek municipality above 50,000 residents joins a national pool from which thematic assemblies are selected, and from there a Greek delegation can join transnational follow up panels on the Conference on the Future of Europe model. The ladder is not symbolic; it is procedural. Precedent: France Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (2019 to 2020) feeding into the EU Climate Pact.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody knows the fight was rigged. The poor remain poor and the rich get richer. Everybody knows the boat is sinking. Everybody knows the captain lied.

AURIO is for the people who are ready to take the wheel.

References

Sources cited in this paper. Read more
  • Bookchin, M. "The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy" (1982)
  • Bookchin, M. "From Urbanization to Cities: Toward a New Politics of Citizenship" (1987/1995)
  • Bookchin, M. "The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism" (2007)
  • Biehl, J. "The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism" (editor, 1998)
  • Sintomer, Y., Herzberg, C. and Rocke, A. "Participatory Budgeting in Europe" (2008)
  • World Bank evaluations of participatory budgeting programmes
  • Fung, A. and Wright, E.O. "Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance" (2003)

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