By Antonis Anzoletou

It is not only the election of the President of the Republic that concerns the government and the parties for 2025. After all, this issue will have been resolved at the beginning of the new year. In the second half of the year, the constitutional review is expected to produce a lot of news, but also conflicts that will largely shape the landscape ahead of the elections.

For him Kyriakos Mitsotakis the point is to explore the scope for broader consensus by talking about a “bold constitutional revision”, while for the opposition parties to leave their own mark.

Five years have already passed since the previous procedure and now the Parliament can start discussing the changes. The prime minister himself has announced it, specifying the time from the summer onwards.

At the top of the agenda will be the establishment of non-state universities. OR revision of article 16 of the Constitution has many times been a point of intense confrontation between the right wing and the centre-left wing of the Plenary. The majority is determined to proceed and the PASOKas the new official opposition, will submit its own proposal with an emphasis on the non-profit nature of the institutions.

For him SYRIZA this specific issue is a casus belli and it is certain that from the moment in Harilaou Trikoupi they show that they agree or propose ways to establish private universities, the conflict will be fierce. Article 16 has always been an identity issue that caused not only political but also social upheaval. It is certain that those who stand against the government will form a front based on the student movement.

What is now foreseen is that higher education is provided exclusively by institutions that are NPDD, expressly prohibiting the establishment of higher schools by private individuals. It is not the first time that the blue faction puts this issue on the agenda.

In 2006, as a government, it seemed that it would also win the consent of PASOK, which held the position of the official opposition. In the internal party of Harilaou Trikoupis, there were tremors at that time, as a result of which George Papandreou did not support the arrangement. In 2019, during the SYRIZA government, the New Republic put the specific article in the provisions to be revised, but without any result.

The prime minister does not wish to include in the “constitutional package” issues that have to do with state-church relations, a fact that will also be a point of friction. PASOK will insist a lot on the matter of changing the way of selecting the leadership of the judiciary. The basic reasoning is that the respective government, instead of appointing the leadership of the Judiciary, should be nominated by the Parliament with a broad majority of the parties so that there are institutional counterweights. In Koumoundourou executives already estimate that it will be very difficult to find room for agreement in the articles to be revised.