With a multitude of legal technical improvements, the draft law of the Ministry of Justice was voted by the plenary session, regarding the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. ND and PASOK declared “yes” to the bill in principle. The KKE and the Hellenic Solution voted against. “Present” declared MeRA25. SYRIZA abstained.

In relation to the issue of the publication of the declarations of the spouses of politicians, the legal technical improvement brought about by the Minister of Justice expressly states that the Declarations of the Property Status of the politicians, as well as of the spouses, the estranged spouses or the persons with whom the debtors have enter into a cohabitation agreement, are published on the website of the Parliament. Also, when checking the Property Status Declarations of political persons, the Property Status Declarations of spouses, estranged spouses or persons with whom they have entered into a cohabitation agreement are related and checked in a similar way.

With the other legal technical improvements announced by the Minister of Justice:

– The Statement of Assets will also include any debt that comes from administrative fines, monetary penalties, taxes and fees to the State and the Local Authorities, contributions to Social Security Organizations and exceeds 5000 euros.

– in relation to the selection of declarations to be audited, it is stipulated that the General Commissioner of the State at the Court of Audit may, after a complaint or ex officio, order an audit of Asset Status Statements in order to establish whether there is an unjustified financial benefit.

– the audit can be assigned to a special echelon made up of judicial officers of the General Commission of the State at the Court of Audit.

– the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Citizen Protection forward to the General Commissioner at the Court of Audit named complaints against specific debtors.

– An obligor who fails to submit a tax return within the deadline or submits an inaccurate or incomplete tax return is punished by imprisonment of at least one year and a fine.

Before the start of the voting, the Minister of Justice Kostas Tsiaras addressed the national delegation. “Although there was a serious framework, for many years there was a suspicion that some issues were not being addressed in the appropriate way. Our aim is to modernize the process of checking the declarations of origin. This is a step towards transparency”, said Mr. Tsiaras.

“The fact that a bunch of proposals that had been submitted, during the consultation process, during the hearing of the bodies and from the parties, was incorporated, is an example of how the ministry perceives the parliamentary and legislative work,” said the Minister of Justice. Mr. Tsiaras accused SYRIZA of delaying tactics, because he is in a very difficult position to abstain because he could not express himself negatively in a series of positive laws.

“This is a bill which solves issues, systematizes the legislation on a very critical issue concerning the legislation of ‘where do you belong’, modernizes the legal framework, undoubtedly upgrades the quality of control and, obviously, facilitates the control work of the competent authorities” , said the Deputy Minister of Justice Giorgos Kotsiras.

Referring to the issues of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Minister of Justice said that the provisions also strengthen the work and operation and efficiency of the European Delegated Prosecutors.

After the filing of the legal technical improvements, the special buyer of PASOK-Movement for Change, Haris Kastanidis, requested the floor from the Minister of Justice. Mr. Kastanidis stated that the minister correctly brought about an improvement, according to which there will be publicity for the statements of the politicians’ spouses.

The special buyer of PASOK called on the Minister of Justice to accept the amendment submitted to the bill by members of his party, regarding the obligation to declare the affiliations of officials of the Ministry of National Defense who have handled matters of armament programs and joint supplies.

The special buyer of the Hellenic Solution, Antonis Mylonakis, denounced the exclusion of the minor opposition parties from the control committee of the declarations (as only the ruling party and the official opposition are represented in the control committee).

The exclusion of the other parties from the control committee was also described as unacceptable by the special buyer of the KKE, Maria Komninaka.

“I am happy to see that you finally relented and brought the provision for the publication of the statements of the spouses of political figures, after the pressure that was exerted,” said SYRIZA rapporteur Kostas Zachariadis. At the same time, however, he emphasized that the government still does not provide answers to important issues, such as the case of Ms. Nikolaou or the fact that the case of Mr. Patsis passed “under the radar” of the audit committee. In particular, however, as Mr. Zachariadis pointed out, the government has not responded about the ND loans and their repayment process.

ND rapporteur Giorgos Koumoutsakos said that today a step of transparency was made, with a bill that “builds trust” between citizens and politicians. Commenting on the improvements made by the Minister of Justice to the provisions of the bill, Mr. Koumoutsakos called on the opposition to understand the quality upgrade of the parliamentary work, instead of trying to present, as a retreat, the government’s respect for the parliamentary process. Corresponding respect, Mr. Koumoutsakos emphasized, is not shown by the main opposition party, which abstains from the votes.