Μake us preferred on Google Greece’s Parliament is scheduled to vote on Thursday, October 29, on legislation requiring psychologists to register with a new statutory professional body to practise legally, introducing annual membership fees and disciplinary oversight.
The Health Ministry bill would establish the Panhellenic Association of Psychologists as a public-law legal entity with a central administration and regional branches. Registration would become an additional requirement alongside an existing professional licence or equivalent certification.
The vote marks the next stage of a reform as already outlined by the government this past summer. The government presents the legislation as a means of strengthening professional standards and protecting the public, but it faces objections over how psychologists’ rights would be determined.
Registration, fees and licence suspension
Already licensed psychologists would have one year to register after the appointment of the association’s interim governing committee.
Those who miss that deadline would receive a further opportunity to submit proof of registration to the relevant regional authority. Continued failure to comply could result in their licence being suspended until registration is completed.
Annual membership would cost €60, reduced to €30 for specified groups, including unemployed psychologists and practitioners with up to five years of professional experience.
For patients, the proposed body would add a compulsory system of professional accountability, including disciplinary procedures. The legislation does not, however, establish an expansion of treatment appointments or a reduction in patients’ fees.
Why psychologists object
A central controversy concerns the decision to leave the detailed definition of professional rights to a future presidential decree.
The existing Association of Greek Psychologists argues that practitioners should not be placed under compulsory membership and supervision before the scope of their professional rights is clearly established. It has called for the bill’s withdrawal.
Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis has assured already licensed psychologists that they would retain their rights upon registering with the new body.
New Democracy supports the legislation. SYRIZA and the Communist Party voted against it at committee stage, while other opposition parties reserved their positions for the plenary debate, according to reporting in Greek at To BHMA.
Broader mental health provisions
The bill also proposes national observatories for psychotherapy and mental health counselling, and for forensic psychiatry.
These would provide scientific and policy advice, supporting service quality and patients’ rights. They would not themselves constitute new treatment services.
The psychology provisions sit within a broader health bill that also includes measures concerning nurses, hospital staffing and medicines.
