The ceremony of handing over and receiving the Ministry of Justice took place in a friendly atmosphere.

The outgoing Minister of Justice Philippos Spyropoulos welcomed both the new Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis and the new Deputy Minister of Justice Ioannis Bougas.

“Your ministry, honorable ministers, is staffed and it is also excellent,” said the outgoing Minister of Justice, welcoming the new political leadership of the Ministry of Justice and added:

“Trust it (s.s.: the ministry), encourage it, cheer it up! It will reward you most, and especially convenience of time, so that you, both together, may devote yourself primarily to the work of renovating the institutions you have in mind. The work is highly demanding and perhaps urgent, as you surely know better than all of us. Along with the renovation, I am sure that you will also act in the direction of relocating some principles and values ​​of our country that we have gradually forgotten.

At the same time, Mr. Spyropoulos referred to Seferis, saying: “And when the time comes for you to hand over the ministry to your future successors, may Seferis’ verse come to mind: “the world was easy – a simple pulse” (from “Erotic Logos”)”.

The new Minister of Justice, Mr. Floridis, said that he feels “very lucky because I will be working with Mr. Yiannis Bougas, an excellent jurist and parliamentarian, and I also feel very lucky that I will be working with the officials of the ministry.”

Furthermore, Mr. Floridis pointed out: “My path after four ministries taught me that teamwork and respect for the Service pay off above all. That is, to its executives. Without the participation of the officials of the ministry it is obvious that nothing can move forward. And I will honor that. Now I also belong to those cases in politics where someone after so many years could say “just imagine!”. I belong there.

In terms of the Justice sector and everything we are thinking of doing, I personally am not going to say anything until the day of the programmatic statements. We must respect collective government work. After presenting the framework we think about the field of Justice, we will start to specialize, to inform, because nothing can be done in this place if first of all the people are not involved.

In order for people to participate in an effort, that is, to support it, they must be well informed. Many times we think we have a plan in our head, we consider it the best possible, but very quickly we find that it does not work because the key factors that will implement it, but mainly the world, who will accept its positive or negative consequences he doesn’t know it. We will work very hard on this. That’s all I can say now. I will do everything in my power to be able to put a stone in the effort to take some steps forward.”

For his part, the Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Bougas, emphasized that “Justice is a priority for the new government of the New Democracy. We are in the era where traditional legal institutions must face, balance and integrate modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in order to improve and speed up the conditions for the delivery of Justice.

However, we must strengthen citizens’ feelings towards Justice in a spirit of equality, transparency and meritocracy. It is our honest and sincere priority to respect and adhere to the independence of the judicial function of the State, and of those who serve it. I am referring mainly to the judicial officials who administer Justice and of course to those institutions and persons who, even if they do not exercise judicial work, nevertheless participate in the orderly and good administration of Justice according to our legal system and I am referring to the lawyers, the notaries , the judicial officers, the mortgagees, the Legal Council of the States”.

In closing, Bougas said: “Our intention is to go one step forward in the best and fastest awarding of Justice in our country”.