Greece is currently in the research phase.

CBDC History and Development

In 2022, Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras said, “[We] need to increase our own technological footprint and infrastructure capabilities. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have the potential to enable safe retail and wholesale payments with central bank money.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Greece earned an 86 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report. As Freedom House noted in the report, corruption remains a significant problem in Greece. With that said, it must be noted that the ability of the government to abuse a CBDC directly is debatable because the CBDC that would be used in Greece would be provided by the European Central Bank—representing the European Union.

Government corruption has been reported across several areas. For example, according to Freedom House, “Tax officials in past years have been implicated in tax evasion schemes, which seriously complicate the government’s fiscal reform efforts,” and there were “accusations that former digital governance minister Nikos Pappas had received bribes and rigged a television licensing competition.” Furthermore, even the former head of the corruption prosecutor’s office was investigated for an abuse of power. related to her failure to send a report to Parliament for further investigation. The existence of pervasive corruption is a major concern with CBDCs because it calls into question any promises that might be made by the government to limit surveillance, control, or other risks of CBDCs. Furthermore, the existence of corruption calls into question whether CBDC policies might be designed to exert political favoritism through subsidies, price controls, or other targeted restrictions.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.