The former presidents of the Athens Bar Association who met today on the issue of the functioning of the independent authorities, decided that “it is necessary to strengthen the basic guarantees of their intra-administrative independence, their economic and administrative independence, and the personal and operational independence of the members them, but also the adequate staffing and the securing of the resources and infrastructure needed to effectively carry out their mission, so that they function as institutional counterweights to power”.

In particular, the issue of the operation of the Independent Authorities was discussed today by the former presidents of the Athens Bar Association, Fotis Kouvelis, Dimitris Paxinos and Antonis Roupakiotis, with the president of the DSA, Dimitris Vervesos, following the latter’s invitation.

On the contrary, the former presidents Yiannis Adamopoulos and Vassilis Alexandris did not attend the meeting. At the same time, the vice-president of the Board of Directors of the DSA Andreas Koutsolambros and the member of the Board Marinetta Gounari-Hatzisarandou attended the meeting.

After the meeting in a joint statement they state:

“1. Independent authorities, especially those constitutionally enshrined, constitute major institutional counterweights, with the main task of controlling political power in sensitive areas that touch on individual liberties and fundamental rights. For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen the basic guarantees of their intra-administrative independence, their economic and administrative independence, and the personal and operational independence of their members, as well as the adequate staffing and the securing of the resources and infrastructure they need to effectively carry out their mission, to act as institutional counterweights to power.

2. A fundamental safeguard to ensure their independence is their staffing in a way that guarantees independence from political selection criteria and is based on a broad social consensus. The time has come to reconsider the way of defining the members of the independent authorities with the participation of wider social forces, which will allow for greater consensus and provide the required social legitimacy.

3. With absolute respect for the judges who served and are serving in Independent Authorities, we point out the firm position of the legal world on the need for sufficient time between the retirement of judicial officials and the possibility of placing them in positions of independent authorities, so that the umbilical cord can be cut between political power and independent authorities.

4. The recent study on the replacement of members of ADAE with the intention of interfering with its operation just one day before the ruling on the case of EYP monitoring is to be condemned. The signatories, with a sense of responsibility, are opposed to this kind of practices that question the institutional role of independent authorities and call on the competent bodies of the State to take measures to strengthen independent authorities, in the context of their democratic mission.”