The Plenary Session of the Presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece, which met today Saturday in Kammena Vourla, expresses its strong opposition both to the content of the Ministry of Justice’s bill under public consultation on the regulations in the procedure before the Council of State, and to the consultation process.

In more detail, the announcement of the Plenary of lawyers states the following:

“The Plenary expresses its strong opposition both to the content of the Ministry of Justice’s Draft Law under public consultation to amend PD 18/1982, which concerns the procedure before the Council of State, and to the consultation process.

In particular, the above Draft Law degrades the orality of the procedure and deprives in several cases the right of representation of attorneys.

At the same time, limitations are placed on the parties regarding the deadlines for exercising procedural rights, while at the same time the parties are burdened with the costs of the performances.

The relevant regulations limit the procedural rights of the parties, lead to the deprivation of the right to be heard and essentially undermine the right of citizens to judicial protection. Speeding up the delivery of Justice is a necessity, especially in the Council of State, which has the worst record in delays in administrative proceedings.

According to a recent Report of the European Union Euroscoreboard for the year 2024, the award time in the administrative trial in the year 2022 for the first degree was 464 days, for the second degree 661 days and for the Supreme Court in the unprecedented number of 1239 days, at the time when the the European average was respectively 166, 152 and 265 days and this, despite the regulations and possibilities provided by Law 3900/2010 and the “filters” that have been put in place (e.g. inadmissible legal aid in the case of conflict with Supreme Court jurisprudence).

Solving the issue of acceleration is first of all linked to the timely issuance of decisions and the full digitization of services. It cannot be linked one-dimensionally to the narrowing of the procedural and substantive rights of the litigants and the increase in the cost of access to Justice, and it is not dealt with by provisions such as limiting the pages of the pleadings, choosing a kok font. The activation of the (in degree) Reporters as case reportors – which is a positive regulation, is not enough.

Regarding the consultation process of the Draft Law, we point out that it was drawn up exclusively by the Council of State, was accepted by the Ministry and put to public consultation, without any prior information or consultation with the legal profession and the other parties involved in the administrative trial carriers.

We are following with particular interest this intense interaction between the Ministry of Justice and the Council of State. And we declare, in every direction, that we will not accept legislative initiatives on issues that concern us, without our participation”.