Δήμος Πατρέων (Municipality of Patra) – €5,000 Fine (Greece, 2025)

The controller is the Municipality of Patras, a town in Greece, which operated the Municipality's Solidarity Tutoring Center (Λαϊκό Φροντιστήριο Αλληλεγγύης του Δήμου). The data subject is a member of the School Committee of the Primary Education Schools of the Municipality of Patras. The controller published on its official website a decision by the School Committee regarding the approval of an expenditure of €800 for cleaning and disinfection supplies. The decision was taken by majority vote, as objections were raised by the data subject, not only for the justification of this financial support, but for the general necessity and legality of the operation of the Municipality's Solidarity Tutoring Center. The publication included the data subject's name, surname, place of work, place of employment, his political beliefs and as well as an extract of the email he had sent to the other 14 members of the Primary Education Committee of the Municipality. On 20 February 2023, the data subject filed a complaint before the Hellenic DPA (Αρχή Προστασίας Δεδομένων Προσωπικού Χαρακτήρα-HDPA) claiming that the the controller processed his personal data unlawfully. The controller held that the publication was aimed to inform citizens about the Municipality's Solidarity Tutoring Center's operations. It argued that the publication of the data subject's personal data served for journalistic purposes and transparency of public administration. The controller maintained that the public's right to information on the program outweighed the data subject’s right to privacy, and the publication was essential for informing citizens about the committee's decision making. Plus, the personal data was already made public by the data subject on his social media platforms. After the complaint was filed, the controller removed the publication containing the data subject's data from its website, though it had already been published on other platforms. The DPA made a balancing of the right to