The Coordinating Committee of the Plenary of the Presidents of the Bar Associations of Greece, in its announcement, characterizes the Ministry of Justice’s multi-law bill on violence against women as partly positive, but at the same time raises objections to some of its articles.

The multi-law bill of the Ministry of Justice concerns “dealing with new forms of violence against women – incorporation of Directive (EU) 2024/1385 – Additional regulations in the law on domestic violence – Reorganization of forensic services – Strengthening the operation of Eurojust – Measures to protect minors and the fight against crime in the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure – Procedural provisions of the competence of regular administrative courts and other arrangements”, the announcement states.

“The Bar Association unequivocally condemns the phenomena of gender-based and domestic violence, contributes to their effective treatment and practically supports the female victims by providing legal assistance, having signed relevant Cooperation Protocols with the relevant State bodies for this purpose”, it is added.

The Coordinating Committee expresses its opposition because the multi-bill “was put into public consultation during the festive season and for a short period of time, which does not allow for meaningful participation in the consultation, in violation of the principles of good law-making”.

Furthermore, it expresses “its strong objections to a series of provisions of the said draft law that refer to new amendments of the Civil Code and the Civil Code, which introduce extraordinary law, violate the presumption of innocence, the separation of powers, the principle of proportionality, create a risk abusive use of the prescribed measures and are in particular in conflict with articles 5, 6 and 25 of the Constitution and 5 and 6 of the ECHR”.

Finally, the Coordinating Committee decided to:

“1. Immediately request a meeting with the Minister of Justice to present in detail the positions of the Bar Association on the provisions of the draft law, in view of its submission to the Parliament and

2. organize a pan-Hellenic online event on Friday, January 10, 2025 at 5:00 p.m., with distinguished criminologists and academics as speakers – presenters, in order to inform colleagues about the relevant provisions being promoted.”