How a Greek civic tech start-up is using AI to reinvent local democracy

Democracy is often thought of in terms of national elections or EU institutions. Yet, when it comes to civic participation, the biggest gaps are often found at the municipal level. Recent data underscores the issue: in France, more than 60% of voters abstained from participating in the most recent local elections making it one of the highest abstention rates according to European Data Journalism. Similarly, local election turnout in Ireland dropped to just 49.4% in 2024, marking the first time fewer than half of registered voters participated. Clearly, the very decisions that shape daily life like waste collection, playgrounds, or tree planting are determined at a level where citizen engagement is often the weakest.

Christos Porios’ journey into civic tech began with frustration. Several years ago, he attended a municipal council meeting in Athens. What should have been an opportunity for transparency turned into a marathon of seven hours, with discussions circling endlessly, questions left half-answered, and citizens struggling to follow the thread of debate. “For a single issue that might matter to your neighborhood, you could end up listening for three hours just to get context,” he recalls. For him, the experience revealed a blind spot in Greek democracy: local government was both highly consequential and deeply inaccessible.

Municipal councils across Greece, as in much of Europe, are technically open to the public. Agendas are published online, minutes are recorded, and meetings are often live-streamed. Yet these resources remain practically unusable for ordinary citizens. PDFs stretch into hundreds of pages; livestreams run late into the night. Participation, when it happens, is limited to a few activists or professionals with the time and patience to go through the process. For the vast
majority, local decision-making is invisible.

This democratic blind spot is precisely what OpenCouncil.gr was set out to fix. Christos,together with his co-founder, Andreas, launched OpenCouncil in early 2023 as part of a civic-oriented initiative designed to combine social impact with sustainable business practices. The platform’s model is straightforward but ambitious: use artificial intelligence to digest, summarize, and contextualize municipal council proceedings, then deliver that information in an accessible way to citizens.

When a city uploads its meeting agenda, OpenCouncil automatically generates summaries, searchable transcripts, and even short video highlights. Citizens can subscribe to receive tailored notifications via WhatsApp or email, focusing on the issues that matter most to them: parking, school renovations, waste management, or cultural programs. The platform’s AI can also answer queries, much like ChatGPT, about what was discussed in a particular council session. For example, a resident might type: “What did my municipality say about playground safety last month?” and get an instant, clear answer.

One striking example of OpenCouncil’s impact emerged during Athens’ debate over regulating electronic scooters. For months, the city had struggled to control a flood of electric scooters roughly parked on sidewalks or, even, blocking ramps for disabled residents. A regulatory proposal was quietly opened to consultation, but few citizens even knew the process was underway. OpenCouncil intervened by creating an easy-to-use platform where Athenians could read the draft regulation, leave comments, and visualize where proposed parking zones would be.

“In just three days, we gathered 126 citizen comments,” Porios says. “That might not sound like much, but in typical municipal consultations in Greece, almost no one participates.” By forwarding each comment directly to the municipality, OpenCouncil transformed a technical PDF buried on a government website into a living dialogue between citizens and city hall.

Unlike many civic tech projects that rely on grants and then fade when funding dries up, OpenCouncil has embraced a hybrid model. Larger municipalities pay subscription fees for the service, while smaller ones can access it for free. All code is open source, meaning cities could, in theory, deploy the system without paying OpenCouncil at all. For Porios, this openness is intentional: “Our mission is impact, not monopoly. If others can use our code to spread transparency, that’s a success.”

This model also creates healthy pressure. “If a city finds no value in the platform, it will simply stop paying us,” Porios notes. “That forces us to deliver real usefulness, not just reports that sit on shelves.”

Currently, OpenCouncil operates in municipalities such as Chania, Argos-Mykines, and Xanthi, with expansion plans in municipality of Cholargos and Zografou, two big municipalities in the area of Athens, and, hopefully, municipality of Athens following other major cities. For a team of just two, soon to be three, the progress is remarkable.

OpenCouncil’s focus on local democracy is deliberate. While national politics dominate headlines, municipal decisions are often the ones that shape everyday life most directly. Whether it’s tree planting, road maintenance, or waste collection, these are the issues that define the quality of urban living. Yet, as Porios points out, local governance in Greece and across much of Europe is “underestimated and under-technologized.”

This neglect has consequences. Citizens often dismiss local politics as irrelevant, even as they complain about potholes or noise regulations. Municipal councils, in turn, become echo chambers for elected officials, with little input from the communities they represent. Revitalizing democracy at this level, Porios argues, is essential for rebuilding trust in institutions more broadly. “If people see that their voice matters in their neighborhood, they might start believing it matters nationally too.”

The problem is not uniquely Greek. Across Europe, civic participation is in decline, particularly among younger generations. Voter turnout in local elections tends to lag behind national contests, and trust in institutions is fragile. The European Union has recognized this challenge, making citizen engagement a core theme of initiatives like the Conference on the Future of Europe.

OpenCouncil fits into this broader conversation. By using AI to democratize access to local decision-making, it offers a model that could be replicated elsewhere. Imagine citizens in Barcelona, Warsaw, or Berlin receiving instant, comprehensible updates about what their city councils are debating. Imagine local consultations that are not just exercises but genuine dialogues. The technology exists; the question is whether societies will embrace it.

Porios is clear-eyed about both the potential and the limitations of his project. His greatest hope is modest: that even one to three percent of citizens in each municipality become active, regularly following council issues and offering feedback. His greatest fear is apathy. “The technology works, the municipalities are willing,” he says. “But if citizens don’t participate, the whole idea collapses.”

Still, optimism prevails. The rise of AI has sparked fears of manipulation, disinformation, and democratic erosion. But projects like OpenCouncil suggest another path: one where AI is a democratic ally. By translating bureaucratic jargon into plain language, by spotlighting the decisions that shape daily life, and by empowering citizens to speak up, technology can help close the gap between institutions and the people they serve.

In a time when faith in democracy is wavering, such experiments matter. It is about the sidewalks, parks, and neighborhoods we share. And in those spaces, civic participation is not an abstract principle. It is, quite literally, the ground we walk on.