- 1: Vasilis Kikilias — total value of direct contract awards: €56.5 million.
- 2: Adonis Georgiadis — total value of direct contract awards: €28.7 million.
- 3: Kostis Hatzidakis — total value of direct contract awards: €23.1 million.
- All contracts awarded during their respective ministerial terms are brought to light (see table).
- In 2025 alone, ministries awarded €4 billion through 163,750 contracts.
- According to official data from KIMDIS, 1,033,297 direct-award contracts were signed overall during the six-year period 2020–2025, amounting to €18.5 billion in total spending.
By Vasilis Galoupis
Who are the three ministers of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ seven-year term in power who have handed out the highest number of direct contract awards? The figures are staggering.
Data Journalists examined the direct awards issued by all ministers under the New Democracy government, covering the period from July 2019 to March 2026. This is the first time such a comprehensive record has been compiled, and the findings are of considerable interest.
The count was based on contracts awarded directly by the central services of the ministries, meaning the hundreds of supervised or affiliated entities were excluded. This approach was chosen to ensure the strongest possible link between the awards and the ministries themselves.
The figures cited in our investigation do not necessarily correspond to contracts personally signed by the ministers, but rather to all those announced during their respective terms in office.
The framework: ‘A procedure by way of derogation’
Direct award is an exceptional procedure for awarding a public contract, applied as a derogation from the fundamental principle of competitive tendering. According to the current institutional framework, it is defined as ‘a procedure whereby the contracting authority awards the contract to an economic operator of its choice, following prior market research, with or without prior publication, depending on the circumstances’.
Direct award is not an alternative to competitive tendering on the grounds of speed or urgency; it is permitted exclusively due to the low financial value of the contract, ‘so as to avoid burdening the state with disproportionate administrative procedures’.
Thresholds and the pandemic
Financial limits and estimated contract value:
The direct award procedure is permitted when the estimated value of the contract, excluding VAT, does not exceed €30,000 for supply and service contracts, €60,000 for service contracts falling under Articles 107–110 of Law 4412/2016, for ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) supply and service contracts. This is subject to the specific conditions of paragraph 6 of Article 118, particularly with regard to interoperability and the digital modernisation of the Central Administration.
Particular emphasis is placed on prohibiting the artificial splitting of contracts to circumvent the application of the law. In accordance with Article 6 of Law 4412/2016, the estimated value of each contract must be determined objectively based on actual needs and documented market research. For contracts with an estimated value of up to €30,000, the optional grounds for exclusion under Article 73(4) do not apply, which simplifies the procedure without eliminating the mandatory review of basic legality.
Due to the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, the financial thresholds for direct awards were increased. However, significant misuse of the measure was observed, as has been repeatedly reported in the press and through related complaints at the parliamentary level. In many cases, the spirit of the law was circumvented and contracts were distributed under the pretext of the pandemic even after it had ended, for other purposes.
Direct award contracts and ministries
In 2025 alone, ministries awarded €4 billion through the signing of 163,750 contracts, with an average value of around €25,000 per contract. According to official data from KIMDIS, a total of 1,033,297 direct-award contracts were signed during the six-year period 2020–2025. A total of €18.5 billion was spent — an amount corresponding to 8% of Greece’s GDP.
KIMDIS, the Central Electronic Registry of Public Contracts, was established within the Ministry of Economy and Development in 2011. It provides statistical data on expenditure from all contracting authorities, including ministries, state authorities, public-sector companies, regions, municipalities and entities to which the state has assigned or delegated management authority.
Among the ministries, the Ministry of Transport tops the list with €2.5 billion in direct awards during the ‘core’ six-year period of the New Democracy government (2020–2025). This was followed by the Ministry of Defence with €575 million and the Ministry of Rural Development with €393 million. During Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government, state authorities have signed contracts of all kinds totalling €77 billion.
The top 3 in direct awards
According to our investigation based on the official Direct Awards database, the government’s leading ministers in this area are Vasilis Kikilias, Adonis Georgiadis and Kostis Hatzidakis. Specifically:
VASILIS KIKILIAS – TOTAL DIRECT AWARDS: €56.5 MILLION
- Minister of Health (7 July 2019 – 31 August 2021): €1.62 million
- Minister of Tourism (31 August 2021 – 26 May 2023): €3.22 million
- Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection (27 June 2023 – 15 March 2025): €46 million
- Minister of Shipping and Island Policy (15 March 2025 – present): €5.7 million
ADONIS GEORGIADIS – TOTAL DIRECT AWARDS: €28.7 million
- Minister of Development and Investments (9 July 2019 – 26 May 2023): €25.7 million
- Minister of Labour and Social Security (27 June 2023 – 4 January 2024): €1.2 million
- Minister of Health (4 January 2024 – present): €1.8 million
KOSTIS HATZIDAKIS – TOTAL DIRECT AWARDS: €23.1 million
- Minister of Environment and Energy (9 July 2019 – 4 January 2021): €4 million
- Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (5 January 2021 – 26 May 2023): €5.8 million
- Minister of National Economy and Finance (27 June 2023 – 15 March 2025): €13.3 million
Since March 2023, he has served as Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of State.
Direct awards totaling over €100 million have been granted solely through these three top-tier ministers—trusted allies of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who have continuously held ministerial positions since 2019 (with the exception of the past year for Kostis Hatzidakis, who was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister).
Detailed direct awards for the top 3 ministers from 2019 to the present
It should be noted that of the 1.3 million contracts signed by all public-sector entities between 2020 and the end of 2025, over 1 million were direct awards, accounting for more than 75% of the total.
