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Anastasia Balezdrova

The stringent legal framework for citizens who do not pay tolls and punch public transport tickets has caused severe responses in the Greek society. In an attempt to soothe them the Greek government classified the violation into a lower degree. This means that offenders will not be sued but administrative fines will be imposed on them.

It seems that the government made a step back, but without the support of smaller opposition parties which "assured" the ministers that the wave of civil disobedience will not stop.

According to the amendment the transport minister Dimitris Repas introduced during the debate on the bill for the public transport recovery and restructuring, those who do not punch a ticket will be punished by a fine or detention and criminal procedure will be triggered only after prosecution.

The original decree stipulated punishment by imprisonment up to three months. Cases of non-payment of tolls will be treated as violations of traffic regulations. Violators will be fined 200 euros and their driving licenses, the registration cards and numbers of the vehicle will be taken away for 20 days.
 
GRReporter contacted one of the lawyers of the "I do not pay" movement. According to Andonia Legaki, "there is no lawyer in the country who does not understand that this means interference of radical nature. It is overturning not only the principles on which the Greek Constitution is based but administrative law generally. According to the Constitution, all citizens are equal, but here we have a government intervention in order to punish people who do not pay the private companies’ tolls. This means that I should be able to call the traffic police to impose a fine on my clients if they do not pay me. The same should apply to doctors, plumbers, electricians and all who offer services for a fee. So, we should not ask the court to satisfy our demands, but to call the traffic police to impose fines on our clients. This is not just a joke. The fact that the government already makes it legally on behalf of entrepreneurs and concession companies is tragically ridiculous."

The lawyer believes that this is the one side of the problem. "The other is that in the same perverse way they introduced in the traffic regulation by which the state guarantees the right of citizens to travel safely a decree that guarantees not that right, but the profits of a company."

Andonia Legaki stressed that citizens who joined the "I do not pay" movement were fully aware that their choice inevitably will have implications. "They knew they would face the state which has already shown that it supports large companies and banks. People are determined to continue fighting legally by claims of justice and it will be very interesting then to see how the court will protect a decision that will legitimize that decree."

Moreover, according to the lawyer "no one can take away the right of working people who are majority to impose their righteous demands by going in the streets.

Currently, the local committees of the "I do not pay" movement discuss the implementation of many more common campaigns to lift the toll barriers. This will help a lot of people who will travel next weekend. Because logic and reality show that tolls barriers lifting facilitates the traffic and does not affect security, as opposed to what is written in the introductory report of the bill."

The members of the "I do not pay" movement are determined to respond to the stipulations of the already adopted law on a large scale and more intensely. "Proceeding will be instituted in case of refusal to pay the fine of 200 euros which will be attended not only by the defendant but also by dozens of other members of the movement." The members of the movement intend to attend in large numbers the courts where such cases will be considered.
 
"As for non-punching the tickets, it is "good" that it was classified as a violation. On one hand, this is a victory after they did not dare to criminalize it and define it a theft. I believe that working people do not have to pay tickets and must refuse to submit their personal data  to controllers. And in case they submit them, we will call the people to file mass claims in the courts to seek their right, which in this case is violated by an unconstitutional and illegal decree," said the lawyer.