Greece is moving to streamline its public sector by allowing seconded civil servants to permanently transfer to the agencies where they are currently assigned. This change is part of a new draft bill from the Ministry of Interior, titled “Reform of the Disciplinary Law for Public Sector Employees, Establishment of the Hellenic Center for Administrative Reform Expertise, and Other Provisions,” which has been released for public consultation.
The proposed legislation introduces a significant shift in how secondments within the Greek public administration can evolve into permanent positions. Specifically, public employees with open-ended private law contracts who are currently seconded to General Government bodies—excluding the private offices of ministers, deputy ministers, secretaries-general, and the Prime Minister’s office—will have the opportunity to request a permanent transfer to their host institution. This request must be submitted within 60 days of the law coming into force.
The same opportunity is extended to permanent public servants, as long as they are not seconded to legal entities governed by private law. The transfers will be executed through a formal decision by the appointing authority of the host body, and a summary of that decision will be published in the Government Gazette. According to the bill, these transfers may proceed even if other existing regulations would normally prohibit them, effectively overriding conflicting provisions.
Employees who take up this option will be placed either in vacant permanent positions for which they are qualified, or in temporary, personal posts created specifically for this purpose. To preserve institutional balance, an equivalent number of organizational positions must be reserved. The transfer process must be completed within three months of the application, or at least registered with a Publication Code Number by Greece’s National Printing Office within that timeframe. If a secondment expires before the transfer is finalized, it will automatically be extended until the process is either completed or the three-month window closes.
Personal posts created for these transfers will be abolished when the employee eventually leaves public service. Importantly, those who transfer under the new rules will be required to remain in their new role for at least five years. These changes will also be factored into the country’s 2026 hiring plans.
