Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance published a parliamentary speech by Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis setting out a draft bill to overhaul the framework for charitable estates and foundations, unclaimed inheritances and donations to the State, alongside an amendment on financial and social measures for victims of the 2018 Mati wildfire and the 2017 Mandra flood. The package centres on mandatory digital transparency for charitable entities, new intervention tools for inactive foundations, and expanded compensation and support arrangements for affected individuals and families. The bill proposes a Unified Electronic Register of Charitable Assets to provide a single, public view of foundations, their assets, administrations and actions, with acts not entered in the register producing no legal effects. “Inactivity” would be defined using objective criteria and would trigger a restart process with a set timeline, supported by a new body to temporarily manage dormant assets and inheritances where governance is absent or operations have been abandoned. Additional digital platforms would record unclaimed inheritances and facilitate donations to the State, while the Zappeion would move to a more flexible governance model intended to enable energy and technical upgrades ahead of Greece’s 2027 EU presidency. On disaster support, the speech noted that since March 2025 the State has withdrawn legal remedies in 69 cases (52 for Mati and 17 for Mandra), with compensation paid or expected to be paid totalling EUR 15.1m and nearly EUR 3m respectively; court-awarded compensation for both tragedies would be explicitly tax-exempt, non-assignable and non-seizable. A special pension of EUR 1,700 per month (four times the full national pension) would be introduced for relatives of the deceased and for registered Mati burn victims with second or third degree burns and disability of at least 50%, with specified allocation rules and a 10-year grace period extending the relevant age thresholds until 23 July 2028 and 15 November 2027. The pension would be tax-exempt and protected from seizure and set-off, would not affect other benefits, would be payable regardless of work or other pensions and would rise automatically with the national pension; the amendment also provides for automatic write-off of assessed and unpaid debts to the tax administration, social security funds and local authorities (including debts under repayment plans or the out-of-court mechanism), while preserving the insurance time linked to deleted contributions, and ensures full healthcare coverage for burn victims in Greece and abroad plus personalised psychological support for victims’ families. The bill also envisages a shift in the role of the Legal Council of the State through an out-of-court dispute resolution mechanism, a Special Rapid Response Unit, and a mandate to recommend the State withdraw from clearly unwinnable litigation where final judgments or settled case law favour citizens.

Original source View in tracker