“The orientation of our policies is for Justice to be rendered in a faster time and with better quality” emphasized the Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis, during the discussion of the State Budget for the year 2025 in the Plenary.

Mr. Floridis regarding the 2025 political priorities of the Ministry of Justice stated that they are:

-In the next three or four months, the reform of the Code of Civil Procedure, which will lead to the issuance of final decisions within 630 days instead of the current 1,500 days, will come to Parliament for a vote. This Code, said the minister, “will allow the Greek judges to deal with the essence of the cases and not with the legislated judicial evasions”.

– Strengthening the legislative framework to combat domestic violence. Next month, additional provisions will be submitted to Parliament to strengthen the protection of victims of domestic violence. We will be, said the minister, “the first country in Europe to incorporate the new Directive published last May to combat domestic violence”.

– In the next period, the transfer of court material to lawyers will be expanded for operations such as the issuance of payment orders, the issuance of wage orders and the drafting of the founding documents for the establishment of Capital Companies.

– In the planning of the Ministry of Justice for 2025, he said, it is the submission to the Parliament of a Code (i.e. a complete legislation) for the alternative resolution of disputes at all levels. Something that “will be a big cut in the judicial function of the country, as thousands of cases will be able to be resolved out of court, for the benefit of the citizens and the economy,” said the minister

-The complete reformation of inheritance law

– Completion to a very large extent of the digital transition of justice with cutting edge telematic trials and the creation of the electronic file.

The minister emphasized that “the end of 2024 finds the Greek Justice in a new landscape, in a new architecture, on the tracks of a creative and effective course. With a major reform that was pending in our country for 113 years and was the unification of the first degree of jurisdiction with the abolition of the Magistrates’ Courts and the inclusion of the Magistrates in the yearbook of the Primary Special Yearbook that was carried out” and the implementation – despite the ominous predictions – is progressing smoothly beyond our own expectations. Mr. Floridis also mentioned that the law on the new Code of Procedure of the Council of State was put into effect, a Code whose implementation has begun ushers the Supreme Court into a new era by speeding up the proceedings and the quality of its decisions. Since last May, the minister reminded, the new Criminal Code and the new Code of Criminal Procedure came into force, with three objectives: To deal effectively with crime and impunity, to finally protect the rights of victims without affecting the rights of victims defendants as well as the acceleration of the criminal trial. Mr. Floridis, estimated that society’s perceptions will slowly change because everyone will understand that there will be no crime that goes unpunished.

On domestic violence, Mr. Floridis said that with the new provisions that were passed together with the Criminal Code and have been in force since May, a protective framework was created to protect both victims and professionals (doctors, nurses, professors, teachers, etc.) they are confronted with such incidents in order to be able to report them without risk of prosecution and it works.

Acceleration to Justice

The minister pointed out that with the legislative arrangements for speeding up the adjudication of cases, he indicated that: in the Single-Member Misdemeanor Court of Athens, where most criminal cases are now heard, we had 210 hearings on a monthly basis and now we have 334 hearings on a monthly basis and this in year level, 20,000 more cases will be heard than before. In Piraeus, from 38 monthly hearings, we now have 63 hearings per month. In the second instance, in the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Athens, from 185 hearings per month, 334 hearings are now heard per month. In the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki, from the 64 hearings of cases, we have reached 102 hearings of cases per month, and in the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Piraeus, from 31 cases, we have reached 47 hearings of cases per month.

With reference to the Law on the transfer of judicial matter to the lawyers, the minister stated that to date more than 25,000 cases have been processed for cases such as cancellations of promissory notes and mortgages, establishment of unions, etc.