Special Secretariat

Olympia K. Anastasopoulou is an honors graduate of the Athens College and the Law School of the University of Athens. Her postgraduate studies are in International and European Law and in Business Administration (M.B.A.) with specialization in Finance and Statistics.

Attorney- at- Law  with over twenty years of experience and Accredited Mediator of the Ministry of Justice, with further training in Family and Registry Mediation, she has worked with major law firms and companies/organizations in Greece and abroad, particularly in the commercial, insurance and financial sectors. She has served as Legal Counselor at the National Theatre and since 2010 she has been serving as Legal Counselor at e-E.F.K.A.

Accredited Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Quality Management Systems Inspector ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 37000 for Appropriate Governance of Organizations.

She is a frequent columnist and participates with public interventions on issues related to the fields of Justice and Governance.

In 2010 she was elected Municipal Counselor of Palaio Faliro and served as Chairwoman of the Gender Equality Committee. From 2014 to 2019, as a member of the Political Council of the party Potami, she was responsible for the Local Government Sector.

In the national elections of July 2019, responding to the call of Kyriakos Mitsotakis she joined forces with New Democracy as an MP candidate for the particularly demanding South Sector of Athens (B3), gathering 6,500 votes of fellow  citizens following a two- week campaign.

From December 2021 to July 2023, she served as Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development at the Ministry of Tourism, promoting legislative reforms and investments.

In March 2025, following a decision of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice, she was appointed Special Secretary for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

She is fluent in English, French and German.

She is married and the mother of two adult sons.

The mission of the Special Secretariat for Alternative Dispute Resolution is to reform the legislative framework for the out-of-court, alternative and appropriate resolution of disputes, and to promote, organise and support the relevant institutions over time.

The Special Secretariat for Alternative Dispute Resolution comprises of

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Operational Unit is responsible for:

• regulating all matters relating to the status of mediators
• managing all requests submitted on the mediation platform and communicating with mediators, lawyers, citizens and public authorities regarding alternative dispute resolution issues.
• updating the relevant Mediation Registries (i.e. the Mediators General Registry and the Specialised Registries for Family and Cadastral Mediators)
• monitoring the mediation information system and the corresponding website, and collecting and processing all relevant statistical data
• ensuring the orderly conduct of the national mediators accreditation
• supporting the Central Committee of Mediators and its subcommittees.

The International Orientation and Practices Unit is responsible for:

• exploring and adapting best practices in Alternative Dispute Resolution
• identifying future challenges and opportunities
• participating in international fora to produce relevant evidence-based public policy

The Unit also

• organizes, monitors and coordinates training programmes and promotional activities
• implements relevant communication and publicity actions
• undertakes legislative initiatives to adapt the relevant institutional framework to the Greek and European legal systems including the introduction of positive incentives, in cooperation with the competent ministries and bodies

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) encompasses various methods for resolving disputes outside of traditional court litigation. Their main scope is to resolve disputes in more flexible, cost-effective, and often faster way by promoting cooperation and avoiding confrontation, in order to reach appropriate, balanced and mutually beneficial solutions.

The main ADR methods are:

• Mediation: Is a structured process in which the involved parties pursue a mutually beneficial solution through dialogue and understanding, with the help of a neutral third party, specially trained and accredited for this purpose: the mediator
• Arbitration: In this method, the parties agree to submit their dispute to one or more arbitrators, who issue a binding decision.
• Judicial mediation: This process is similar to mediation, except the mediator is a sitting judge and it is initiated either before a lawsuit is filed or while a case is pending before the court.