The reform of the judicial charter was spoken by Minister of Justice, George Floridisat the 9th Delphi Economic Forum.

“The reform was not easy. At Hellas deep cuts need a maturation time of 50 to 100 years and this particular one had 114 years of maturation, since the time of Eleftherios Venizelos”, said the Minister. As he pointed out, the integration of the magistrates’ courts with the courts of first instance is expected to greatly reduce delays and 1,000 judges to be fully operational, as he noted that until now half of the judicial staff of the first degree is under-functioning. He characteristically stated that in civil justice it takes over 1,400 days for a decision, when the European average is 630 days, a goal that is expected to succeed in Greece at the end of the four years.

In response to a question from the Kathimerini newspaper journalist, Ioannas Mandrou, on whether the penal institutions are sufficient after the changes in the penal code, answered that the penal system is successful when it works as a deterrent. “Until now for misdemeanors there is certainty that there is no penalty,” Floridis said, noting that judges will now be able to impose fines, community service, electronic monitoring or prison terms for sentences of more than two years.

Regarding the digitization of the judicial system, the Minister noted that since the actions are financed by the Recovery Fund, they should be completed by the first half of 2026, otherwise the funds will be lost, while he noted that the summer will be handed over to the Ministry, study on the changes that must be made to strengthen the extrajudicial mechanism.

From his side, the Supreme Judge and Vice-President of the Supreme Administrative Court Konstantinos Kousoulis, pointed out the distortions that dissipate part of the work of the judges, ultimately bringing our country to the last places in Europe in terms of efficiency. In fact, he emphasized the need to reform provisions of the Constitution that refer to justice and have origins even from the past century, shaping an environment of proportional justice in the digital age. “We legislate based on the traumas of the past and look less at the needs of the future,” said Mr. Kousoulis, noting however that new technologies can help, but are not a panacea.

In the context of the Economic Forum, the manner in which the delay in administering justice affects investments in our country was examined with the Acting Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic (2023) and President of the Court of Auditors (2019-2023), John Sharma, to assign a share of responsibility to the way the administration operates, stressing that in some cases there is no spatial planning or forest maps. “Society generates more cases than the judicial system can judge. We are one of the few countries where justice is delivered exclusively by organic judges,” he noted.

The Vice-President of the Council of State, Michalis Pikramenos, also blamed the judges for the delays, stressing that there are tools that are not used because some have a conservative, even guild mentality. “There is no need for a constitutional revision but a judicial map, new technologies and a different understanding of the function of the judge in society,” he commented, noting, however, that significant progress has been made in the last 10 years.

A stable tax framework, energy costs, administration of justice and polynomiality are the factors that determine the decision of businessmen to proceed or not with investments, according to the Chairman of the Board of Directors. of BSE, Dimitris Papalexopoulos. When asked about the refusal of Moody’s to upgrade us, citing the delay in the delivery of justice, he emphasized that the house did not pull it out of its hat, but speaking to foreign investors he saw that it is the issue that concerns them the most.

“The problem cannot be solved only by legislation. Without a land registry and clear rules of the game, it is difficult to find solutions”, said Mr. Papalexopoulos, proposing for example to establish a special department in the CoE to adjudicate commercial issues. Finally, he pointed out that the problem is not only Greek, as well as in Europe companies are unable to integrate the thousands of pages of new laws that come out every month and this affects small and medium businesses more.