By Ioanna Mandrou

“Up to 50% is expected to reduce the time of administration of justice in the next two years,” said the Minister of Justice George Floridis in the context of the 12th Conference of Regional Development, which is being held in Patras, referring to the legislative changes of the government to speed up justice, which were recently passed and will be effective from next September.

Mr. Floridis, speaking about the new judicial map, which will be supplemented, as he said, with a new Code of Civil Procedure (new legislation for the adjudication of civil disputes) emphasized that the World Bank’s prediction is a reduction in the adjudication of cases by 25% from the very first year of implementation of the new measures.
In particular, with regard to the acceleration in the administration of justice, which is also linked to investment prospects, Mr. Floridis referred to the European evaluation reports, as our country is in 146th place worldwide in relation to delays in the administration of justice, emphasizing among other things . “In order to promote a network of changes, it is not enough to implement the judicial map, with the integration of 1000 justices of the peace in the courts of first instance, on the basis of which an acceleration is expected, as I told you, of the order of 25% within a year.”

New legislation for the Council of State

According to Mr. Floridis, the said reform if combined with the new civil procedure which will be voted on at the end of summer, and in the assignment of part of the cases to lawyers, over a two-year period, the time for dispensing justice is expected to be reduced by 50% in total.
Also, Mr. Floridis emphasized that the passing of a new law for the Council of State is imminent by the end of June, which will put an end to the endless postponements in the adjudication of cases and will contribute to the faster issuance of decisions for investment and economic development cases as well.
In particular, as he stated, the new legislation will provide that each appeal to the Supreme Court will be charged from the beginning to a judge and within a period of up to three months the relevant file must be ready both by the person making the appeal and by the public .
He then added that the cases – mainly – will be heard in council soon and only exceptionally in an audience.

Prison for serious traffic offenses

Mr. Floridis also referred to the change in the criminal legislation for serious traffic accidents, as a felony is already provided for, as he said, and prison for those who violate the red light and injure or kill someone, as the same now applies to fatal traffic accidents or those that cause serious bodily harm. “Once the minister emphasized, the state should have looked at the victims as well. Not only the perpetrators, who have their rights as defendants and the law must be applied to them”.

Tempe – “Judges and prosecutors are doing their jobs properly” – “The courtroom is ready for the trial”

In addition, with regard to the legal proceedings for the crime of Tempe, Mr. Floridis, when asked about the complaints made by relatives of the victims, said, among other things,
“Judges and prosecutors do their job very well. There is not a single lawyer out of 120 who defends the victims and their relatives who has argued that the actions of the judges are illegal. That’s why justice is doing its job properly.”
Regarding the room where the trial will take place, Mr. Floridis emphasized that it is already ready and added that the government made any legislative change needed to facilitate the interrogation, noting an amendment to the law to allow the investigator access in all conversations of those involved and others.

“Children’s home” also in Patras

Finally, the minister announced the operation of a “Home for the child” and in Patras, the space was granted by the municipality of the city, in order to interrogate children who have been abused and who should not testify in police stations or investigative offices.
He explained that these are separate interrogation rooms where court officials can take statements from children. As he said, we are creating four structures, in Athens – Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Patras.

Indeed, as he made known, the municipality of Patreon decided to allocate a privately owned building in order to house this service. In fact, in his meetings with the Municipal Authority, he discussed, as he made known, issues of relocating the courts of Patras, as he said, something must be done and done soon.

The 12th Regional Development Conference (RGC) takes place at the Cultural & Conference Center of the University of Patras, from Thursday 30 May to Saturday 1 June and is organized by the “PELOPONNISOS” Newspaper, the Regional Policy Observatory, the Region of Western Greece and the University of Patras . The interview of the minister was conducted by the journalist of “Kathimerini” and “Sky” Ioanna Mandrou.