By Ioanna Mandrou

Its new president Council of State was chosen by the cabinet o Michalis Pikramenoscurrently vice-president of the supreme court, a supreme judge of renowned prestige and with lots of public interventions in international and Greek forums, a fanatical follower of the reforming needs for justice.

Michalis Pikramenos was chosen as the new president of the Supreme Court, following a proposal to the cabinet of the Minister of Justice George Floridisat an extremely critical juncture for the Council of State, as the government prepares a new legislative framework for its operation, in order to resolve decades-old problems.

Who is Michalis Pikramenos?

Mr. Pikramenos has been part of the judicial staff of the CoE since 1989 and has been vice-president of the court for the last six years, serving in the B Department of the court.

At the same time, he is a professor of Public Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with an excellent written work and with public interventions abroad and in Greece on various issues such as accountability in the judiciary, the need for reforms, the acceleration of justice to attract investments and economic development , the rule of law and the protection of individual rights and others.

Mr. Pikramenos will remain in the presidency of the CoE for three years until 2027, enough time to be able to implement during his presidency what he deems necessary to improve the functioning of administrative justice.

With his statement, the new president of the CoE after his election underlined:

“The State honored me, through the Council of Ministers, by assuming the presidency of the Council of State. I will seek, during my three-year term, in cooperation with the colleagues of the Council of State and the regular administrative courts, to strengthen the institutions of independence and accountability of judges and also to improve the effectiveness of the administration of justice for the benefit of the citizen, the society and democracy”.

The selection of Mr. Pikramenos as president already creates two vacant positions of vice presidents in the Council of State which will also be filled by the cabinet, as the vice president Marina Konstantinidou left due to reaching the age limit.

However, Mr. Pikramenou’s co-candidates for the presidency of the CoE were worthy high-ranking judicial officers, among them the vice-presidents Diomedes Kyrrilopoulos, Spyridoula Chrysikopoulou, Konstantinos Kousoulis and Ioannis Gravaris.

In fact, Diomedes Kyrriopoulos received the most votes in the Parliament during the pre-selection process, gathering 21 votes of MPs, while Spyridoula Chrysikopoulou, president of the D Department, has been nominated repeatedly for the presidency of the court and Konstantinos Kousoulis, who also serves in the presidency of the Republic, as and the others possess prestige and scientific knowledge.

The selection of Mr. Pikramenos for three years in the CoE was also dictated by the need to have time to improve the functioning of administrative justice, and thus Spyridoula Chrysikopoulou and Konstantinos Kousoulis were excluded from the selection as well as Io. Gravaris as they are leaving due to filling of the age limit one year from now. Mr. Kyrrilopoulos still has two years left and his candidacy has greatly occupied the government.