On 28.06.2022, the President of the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC) announced the agreement concerning the implementation, over the next years, of a major infrastructure project that has been put in place by the HCC regarding the relocation of all its services to a building situated in the center of Athens, currently owned by the Bank of Greece, after at least 10 years of arduous search for new premises undertaken by all the Authority's successive administrations. The event was attended by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms. M. Vestager, the Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. A. Georgiadis, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr. Th. Pelagidis and the Consumer Ombudsman, Mr. L. Zagoritis.

In particular, following the relevant initiative and planning of the HCC’s President, regarding the creation of a multi-purpose public administration hub, this property will house in the future, apart from the HCC, the Consumer Ombudsman, certain departments of the Ministry of Development related to consumer protection, as well as other bodies (such as the Data Protection Agency) through the signing of a relevant framework agreement for subleasing a part of the property.

This project is also the concretisation of a vision for general cooperation between public bodies, independent authorities as well as governmental departments with the aim of creating a public ecosystem for the protection of competition and consumers, in all its dimensions, while developing cooperation with and within a wider group of bodies and NGOs, such as Consumer associations, associations of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and associations of the wider civil society for the promotion of competition, with the aim of strengthening the Authorities’ independence and effectiveness. These bodies will have access to a number of facilities intended both for the organisation of seminars, conferences dedicated to informing the wider public as well as to special facilities intended for training on competition and consumer protection issues. A large integrated competition and consumer protection library will be available for use by the Agencies’ staff as well as the general public.

At the same time, the implementation of this project will allow savings in public resources, as a result of the shared use of premises by public bodies with complementary functions and the efficient use of a public property in central Athens, as well as for citizens and businesses, as they will not have to move from one public service to another, in different locations of Athens, as is currently the case, but will be served in one place for all their needs (“one-stop shop”).

The President of the HCC thanked the Minister of Development, who endorsed this vision from the outset, the Governor and the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece as well as the Consumer Ombudsman, who immediately "embraced" this infrastructure project and have contributed and continue to contribute to its implementation.