Greece has made a new improvement on the Front of the Rule of Law. Our country has succeeded in successfully closing two of the six recommendations made by the European Commission in its regular reports, with only four pending recommendations left, better than the European average.

According to figures presented in Brussels, at a meeting with Commissioner Michael McGrath, State Minister Akis Skertsos and Deputy Minister under Prime Minister and government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, our country secured:

  • the participation of the judiciary in the appointment of the leadership of the three Supreme Courts (Law 5123/2024), as the Commission had requested in 2022 and 2023
  • the effective and systematic verification of the accuracy of the asset statements as requested in 2022 (Law 5023/2023)

The two ministers also presented the 14 initiatives launched to satisfy the remaining four recommendations, on the basis of four axes: accelerating justice, tackling corruption, libertarian print and establishing institutional counterbalances.

Regarding the establishment of a historical persecution and final decisions on corruption cases, a single corruption case management register will be implemented and an interoperative system of asset control will be used. As far as safety bicles for journalists are concerned, the incorporation of the Anti-SLApp directive is ongoing.

For the establishment of sufficient public consultation prior to the adoption of laws, the two ministers emphasized that in 2024 not a single bill was tabled in Parliament without a public consultation. Especially since August, the duration of public consultation for each draft law was at least two weeks. Finally, with regard to the legal framework governing the operation of NGOs, it was emphasized that the Ministry of the Interior is preparing legislation for the creation of a single repository to record all civil society organizations, while in the last eight months the registrations of these organizations in the two main registries of the Ministry have increased.

Following are the statements of Messrs. Skertsou and Marinaki:

The Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, pointed out: “With the government spokesman, today, we met Commissioner MacGrath, who is responsible for the rule of law, justice, consumer protection, and presented the key points of the Greek Republic in relation to the annual report on protection and respect for the rule of law. Greece has been making a systematic effort to meet the recommendations it receives from the European Commission for 3-4 years. We approach all the observations that are made in a constructive and positive spirit. We have received six recommendations by 2022. We have fully complied with two of them. So now we are in the four recommendations. I recall that there are 18 Member States of the European Union that have much more recommendations on Greece’s rule of law. This is partly responding to a criticism that is often done by opposition parties on the state of the rule of law in Greece. Organizations that measure and evaluate, in a reliable manner and specific methodology, the quality and state of the rule of law, such as the European Commission, such as the OECD, such as the World Bank or large valid foreign means, such as the Economist, find and record and record on a yearly basis. I recall that Greece has now fully regained the investment level. This is not indifferent to the functioning of the rule of law. We could not regain the investment grade if the economic institutions, but also the political institutions of the country were not sufficiently functioned. And beyond that, we have made a summary about the steps we have taken to date and those we intend to do for the four main pillars of recommendations: the functioning of justice, the freedom of the press, the issues of corruption, and the wider issues of the institutional, and the wider issues of the institutions, and the lawsuits of the institutional antibodies. In all four fields, our country has made significant progress. I recall that under the national plan of recovery and resilience, Greece spends around 650 million euros to improve the operation of justice, with a number of reforms and investment. Greece is within the first six countries in implementing the recovery fund’s commitments for reforms and investment and disbursement of resources, which means that the European Commission itself is positively evaluating the progress we have made. Specifically, we have mentioned from now on to the next steps, which is the implementation of the new judicial map for administrative, criminal and civil justice.

They are reforms that have been voted on and are now in the process of being implemented. There, we have already seen a significant increase in the productivity of the Greek courts thanks to the rallies and mergers we have made in judicial formations across the country, along with other reforms related to the strengthening of human resources, judges, judicial officers, the creation of new bodies, Buildings and with renovations in many judicial buildings, the digitization made in justice, with the main aim of converging in the time of justice, from 1500 days for a final decision, in the 650 days when the average European term. This is the main goal Greece has set to protect and show that we really respect and recognize what is a European rule of law in the administration of justice. On issues related to dealing with corruption and cooperation with civil society. We have committed to the first one that a new initiative we are taking is the ISO performance for the training of civil servants in 40 state organizations we consider to be more vulnerable to corruption issues. This is an action, which is also funded by the recovery fund and on a rolling basis, now certified organizations for their ability to adequately manage corruption cases. Other initiatives we take are the creation of a new digital register, where we will monitor all cases concerning financial crime and corruption throughout the spectrum of state functions, so that we know from the introduction of a case, until it is in the judiciary, which is it, how much time does it take to go from one stage? And to have a complete picture and complete transparency, the most important, for the course and evolution of these cases. In closing, we have set an ambitious goal. The goal is to be among the 20 best countries in the world by 2030 on 2030 on transparency and accountability, but also in the fight against corruption. And we believe that we can do so through the grid of the reforms and investments we make in our government program. “

Undersecretary of State for the Prime Minister and government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis stressed: “It is very important that we are here and we can have a discussion, following the visit we had with the Minister of State, Mr. Akis Skertsos, with the Commissioner for the Press and Freedom of Freedom, Mr. Macgrath. The annual report on the rule of law is essential and formally the mirror of each country on these issues. And I think we all agree that as important as the lives of citizens is the economic development of a country, such as Greece, where the goal here is for these major conquests of the country to pass more and more in the lives of citizens, as important is this debate on the rule of law, the freedom of the press. Because a prosperous state must prosper at all levels. I do not want to analyze anything more than my portfolio, and the truth is that presenting today, as soon as I was able to, in the following, in a very thorough presentation made by the minister, Mr. Skertsos, the issues of freedom of the press, the security of the journalists, I have not seen in Greece, Indicatively, Greece is the first country to currently legislate at the security level of journalists, in less than one and a half years, to abolish simple defamation, along with the tightening of all penalties in offenses related to threats and journalists. It has been legislated and applied, as in the previous ones, the same name of threats against sportswriters. All that is very tightened by all that is written about the protection of journalists have been tightened in all collective agreements. Greece is a country where no euro can no longer take any media unless it is registered in the newspaper and electronic print register and electronic websites. These registers will be even more stringent in the coming weeks in terms of the requirements that have to do with the demands of the journalistic world. Anyone who does not pay a journalist separately for a different medium he has, which is not formal in all his obligations, is not in the register, so he is not funded either by state advertising or programs. And of course there is a move the registries in favor of the transparency of the press. And in the public media, for the first time ERT has already a chairman and chief executive who emerged from a fair process that ASEP ran. There are many that we discussed. We will fully implement all of all our obligations. We are already far ahead of too many stages. We have already managed and harmonized our framework and on the infamous issue of Slapps.

In Greece, as you know, simple defamation has been abolished. There is no prosecution of any criminal, no journalist for simple defamation. In order to proceed with a lawsuit, an out -of -court protest must first be sent. If this is not done, the treatment is not proceeded and if there is a recall even in the audience, the treatment does not go ahead. Of course, there are some other guidelines, which in cooperation with the relevant Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, will also pass fully in 2025 and in the coming months in our own law, in civil law, so that we are one of the first countries to have 100% harmonization with European guidelines. I close by saying that there are two roads that you can take when you have a position of responsibility, because the positions we have are temporary and we are evaluated at the end of the day by citizens. One road is to achieve party goals, even slander your country. The second way is to realize that every step of progress you take is a step forward, overall, for your homeland. We choose, coming out of the country and participating in such important meetings, to talk about Greece, which has managed in the main of many sacrifices of the citizens, to become a “black sheep” country into a country that is proud and starring. And this is our debt every day to be even stronger for people, who have been difficult for many years. “