## 2 Paving the Way for Open Government Reforms in Greece
### The Open Government Partnership  
In 2011, the Open Government Partnership was launched as an initiative aiming at the creation of an international platform for countries, committed to place efforts on the development and implementation of ambitious _open government reforms_. At the heart of these reforms was the engagement of civil society in the decision-making processes. The partnership has grown rapidly, counting from eight countries in 2011 to 63 countries in 2014 (Figure 1) [31]. In all these countries, national governments have strengthened their efforts and dedication to the provision of more open, accountable and responsive to citizens services, being the outcome of a joint effort of public agencies on the one hand and citizens\" and stakeholders\" on the other, through decision-making processes that reinforce the active involvement of all interested parties.  
The efforts undertaken by OGP are focusing on both the national and the international level. At both levels, the scope is to create _partnerships_ between governmental and civil society organizations. Such partnerships should, as a first step, aim at the provision of free access to open data, information _etc._ to the public on a \"_247/365_\" basis [30]. Based on well informed citizens due to their accessibility to a wide range of open data, partnerships, and as a second step, aim to _empower citizens and stakeholders_ and \"place their voice\" as equals at the \"tables\" where policy decisions are made, thus assuring a multi-discipline and pluralistic approach to problem-solving on behalf of both the decision-making process and the outcome (solution) of the problem at hand.  
Figure 1: Countries participating in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) [31], CC BY 3.0.  
At the _national level_, partnerships aim to support an ongoing dialogue and collaboration between government and civil society, leading to more open, transparent and legitimized decision-making processes and outcomes, while harnessing new technologies to strengthen governance. Dialogue and collaboration can take place by means of an OGP Action Plan, developed on the basis of a multi-stakeholder, open and participatory process (see [41]). Within this Action Plan are presented a set of concrete and measurable governmental commitments, which aim at supporting transparency, accountability and citizen engagement in the decision-making process. The structuring of the country commitments should follow certain guidelines, such as [31]:  
* _Availability of timeline_: the process, details and timeline of the public consultation should be available prior to consultation;
* _Adequate notice_: governmental agencies consult population with sufficient forewarning;
* _Awareness raising_: actions supporting the raising of awareness of citizens on the OGP initiatives, thus enhancing the potential of public participation in the consultation;
* _Multiple channels_: need for a multi-modal communication approach, implying the use of a variety of communication mechanisms/tools for widening the range of opportunities of the public to participate, thus ensuring equality aspects of participation;
* _Breadth of consultation_: stresses the need to consult a large variety of actors, both citizens and private stakeholders, widely spread within the national territory, thus ensuring a wide and spatially balanced representation of stakes addressed in each specific consultation process; and
* _Documentation and feedback_: wide publicity of the public consultation outcome, summarizing the key issues addressed, while online availability of such reports is also strongly recommended.