The “discrediting” behavior of the Minister of Justice, Giorgos Floridis, is referred to in a statement by the competent Head of Department of SYRIZA-PS, Alexandros Avlonitis.

After attributing “excessive intemperance and arrogance” to the minister, Mr. Avlonitis notes: We are completely opposed to this bill which is the epitome of sloppiness and the lack of meaningful consultation with those who serve the judiciary, (the Judiciary and the Bar and the court officials), but mainly with local communities.

The abolition of the Magistrate’s Courts and the centralization of the judicial structures is a criminal intervention in the institutional framework of more than a hundred years.

The call for speeding up justice from the abolitions/mergers is false and false, as experience has proven that where Magistrates’ Courts were merged in the past (in 2013), no improvement in speed was achieved. On the contrary, where public structures were abolished, local societies withered and urbanism was strengthened, with further expansion of large urban centers.

The abolition of Peace Courts is directly contrary to modern, international legal practice. For example, in Germany the civil courts of first instance are the Magistrates’ Courts (competent for civil disputes) and the Courts of First Instance. In Italy, regular judicial bodies are the Magistrate’s Court, the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. In the Netherlands, each court of first instance has more than one seat of Magistrates’ Courts. The same is of course the case in many other countries

In Greece, however, by invoking a study commissioned by the World Bank, the Government does not hesitate to brutally attack the principle of proximity and the social need for accessible justice.

Any changes in the existing spatial distribution of judicial structures should have been preceded by substantial consultation with the competent scientific and social bodies, data on the infrastructure and needs should have been collected, the Polynesian character and the mountainous relief of the country should have been taken into account, as well as the inadequate transport network. Whole areas have rightly risen up against the extreme that the Government calls the “new judicial map of the country”.

We warn that the bill to restructure the judicial map is unspeakably sketchy and dangerous and as such must be withdrawn immediately.

The collapsed Rule of Law cannot withstand further degradation in our country.

The sly smile of the Minister of Justice will eventually “freeze”.