By Elena Galari

The new reform measure of the inclusion of minors in amateur sports clubs were presented by the Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis and the Deputy Minister of Education, Religion and Sports Yiannis Vroutsis, at an event at OAKA.

This is an innovative action, part of the package of measures taken by the State for the dealing with juvenile delinquencywhere integration is selected minors 12-18 years oldwith mild delinquency, in amateur sports clubs, throughout Greece.

By Joint Decision, the two Ministers defined in 14 articles every detail for the framework of the implementation of the reform measure of the monitoring of sports programs and the participation of minors in sports clubs.

In fact, the President of the Court of First Instance and juvenile judge Giannis Evaggelatos, who participated online from Neapolis Lasithiou, stated that the new measure is already being applied to six children with mild delinquency.

During the speech of Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis stated:

“In the Criminal Code we legislated three pioneering reformative measures for juvenile offenders:

The first is that the juvenile judge can impose the reformatory measure of participation in sports activities, which is what we are doing here today. And I am especially happy that from the first moment Mr. Brutsis embraced this, embraced it.

The second is that a corresponding ministerial decision will soon be signed, which will organize the framework for the enforcement of the reformative measure for participation in cultural activities and especially in theatrical group action, where children will actually be able to transform their anger into a positive energy. That’s what it’s about. Children who are delinquent are angry children. So, this anger, which is a negative energy must be converted into a positive energy. And sport is one of the best vehicles to do that and culture as well.

The third measure that we legislated is the provision of community service. There is a nice example here: If a child vandalizes works of art, the best way to rehabilitate him and reintegrate him into society is to send him to work with art conservators. That is, to take the anger of destruction and turn it into a positive action».

He spoke of a “historic day”. Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Yannis Vroutsisduring his speech.

“Only Sports, with its pedagogical character, can teach all children, in the new generation, values ​​such as discipline, respect, solidarity, cooperation, loyalty, self-esteem and dedication to continuous self-improvement. After all, Sports, as it is universally accepted, with its Values ​​and Ideals, functions as a social tool for positive patterns of behavior, integration, inclusion, equal treatment, removal of inequalities and elimination of discrimination.

We are starting a pilot in five Regions of the country (Attiki, Ioannina, Chania, Kastoria and Lassithi, which we visited, and also organized a two-day online training seminar for the coaches of the local associations), before the universal application of the measure starts from the judicial year 2025 -2026.

We have defined the strict conditions that need to be met by the unions, which declare voluntary participation in the program, the detailed procedures from the time of the imposition of the reform measure, the required cooperation with the curators, etc.

I am particularly pleased that the response of sports associations, which cultivate individual and team sports, has been enthusiastic».

In the context of the expansion of the reform measures, it was established by Mr. Floridian working group for the preparation of the pilot application of the new reform measures. Some of the team members went to Chania, Lasithi, Kastoria and Ioannina, where they met with judicial and prosecutorial officials, sports associations, which had expressed interest in participating and welcoming the minors.

A similar meeting was held at the Ministry of Justice, with the participation of sports associations of Athens and Piraeus, among which was AEK, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Panionios, Milonas and other PAE.

Within the next period, it is expected that there will be a similar legislative initiative of the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, so that the reform measures can be applied in the field of culture.

The criminologist and Head of the General Directorate of Special Legal Issues and Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice, Eftychia Katsigarakis, referred to the implementation of the new reform measure, while the Head of the Competitive Sports Directorate of the General Secretariat of Sports of the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports, Vassilis Kakkos, referred to the selection criteria of the sports associations, in the role of coaches and in the protection filters “so that every minor with such a reformative measure can be assimilated into the sports family».

The required sports equipment to cover the training and competition needs of the program, in which the minor participates, is granted by the sports association.

However, the expenses for sports equipment, the issuance of a health card, as well as the costs of transporting a minor by public transport to and from the place of training, are borne by the budget of the Ministry of Justice.