Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to dismantle corruption networks inside state institutions after police broke up a sophisticated bribery and extortion ring operating within Athens urban planning offices, using the scandal to accelerate the transfer of building permit powers away from local authorities entirely.
"The battle against corruption is not won with empty promises, but with a clear plan, persistence and political will," Mr. Mitsotakis said in a social media policy address. "There are no untouchable zones."
The prime minister announced that planning departments will be stripped of their authority to issue building permits, with those powers transferred to a unified, digitized National Land Registry — removing the bureaucratic leverage points that investigators say the ring systematically exploited for illicit gain.
Mr. Mitsotakis drew a direct parallel to his government's earlier crackdown on tax fraud through the independent revenue authority, framing both operations as part of the same structural drive to remove human discretion — and with it, the opportunity for corruption — from state processes. He noted that gov.gr, the state's digital services portal, has now automated more than 2,200 public procedures since its launch six years ago, reducing bureaucratic exposure to graft.
On migration, Mr. Mitsotakis confirmed Greece has aligned its legal framework with the newly ratified EU Pact on Migration and Asylum — a shift he said Greece helped drive — securing tighter border protections, faster asylum processing and greater support for frontline Mediterranean states.
He also announced Greece is co-leading a multinational initiative to establish return hubs in non-EU third countries for migrants whose asylum claims are permanently rejected.