A high-level government meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was held on Monday morning at the Maximos Mansion, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The session brought together Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou and Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis to discuss the integration of the new Personal Identification Number (PIN) into Greece’s updated police identity cards.
The Personal Identification Number will be assigned once, at birth, and will serve as the unique identifier for all future interactions with public services. According to government sources, the move aims to significantly speed up and enhance the security of identity verification processes across public sector bodies.
Under the new system, each identity card will be required to display a unique personal number, which will also be stored in the digital chip embedded in the ID card.
Minister Papastergiou, in an interview with the state-owned broadcaster ERT, clarified that this number will consist of three alphanumeric characters along with the individual’s Tax Identification Number (AFM).
“We refer to numbers and common letters of the Greek and Latin alphabet as alphanumeric characters. Two of these are selected manually, and the third is generated automatically—together forming the citizen’s personal number,” he explained.
Existing ID cards that do not include the Personal Identification Number will remain valid until their expiration date or until they are replaced. This applies to all cards issued prior to, or within 30 days of, the publication of the relevant Joint Ministerial Decision.
