Greece appoints new general secretaries for health and citizen protection

The appointments

Greece's prime minister announced the appointment of two new general secretaries on Thursday, 9 July 2026. Dafni-Eleni Nikolaou takes the role of General Secretary of Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Health, while Spyridon Papageorgiou becomes General Secretary for Protection of Critical Entities at the Ministry of Citizen Protection. The announcements were made via the prime minister's press office.

Dafni-Eleni Nikolaou

Nikolaou is an Athens-based lawyer and a graduate of the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She practiced law from 2013 at the firm "Athanasios Varlamis & Associates", later becoming a partner, handling commercial, tax, and criminal cases with a focus on economic crime. In 2019 she joined the legal team of Deputy Minister of Development and Investments Nikos Papathanasis, becoming its head in 2021. She contributed to the legislative committee for the reform of public procurement law (Law 4412/2016). In 2023 she took charge of the legal department for Minister of Labor and Social Security Adonis Georgiadis, and from January 2024 she has served as chief legal advisor to the Minister of Health, overseeing legislative work. She has also served on committees and boards including the National Transplant Organization, the Supervisory Board of the National Authority for Medically Assisted Reproduction, and the Drug Price Negotiation Committee of the National Organization for Healthcare Services Provision (EOPYY).

Spyridon Papageorgiou

Papageorgiou was until now a Partner of Cyber Security in Technology and Transformation at KPMG Greece, with over 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and cyber operations. He is a retired Navy captain (Archipilarchos) who served for more than 12 years in the Cyber Defense Directorate of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (GEETHA). He directed the Joint Cyber Defense Operations Center and the national cyber incident response team for critical infrastructure. He has participated in PESCO projects and played a central role in organizing the annual joint cyber defense exercise "PANOPTIS". He has taught information systems security, cyberattack response, and digital forensics at universities and military academies, and has received distinctions from Greek and international bodies. He is also a graduate of the U.S. International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

Roles and responsibilities

The General Secretary of Strategic Planning at the Health Ministry is responsible for long-term policy design and legislative coordination. The General Secretary for Protection of Critical Entities at the Ministry of Citizen Protection focuses on safeguarding critical national infrastructure against cyber and physical threats, a role that aligns with Papageorgiou's extensive background in cyber defense and critical infrastructure protection.