Galery

1

The bill introducing changes to the law on ministerial responsibility was adopted on first reading with the votes of the two major parties PASOK and New Democracy. The extreme rights from LAOS voted against it, while the communists and the radical left abstained.

The core of the legal text is the formation of a three-member judicial council the members of which will be able to rule on the substance of the accusations directed against ministers, if the parliamentary majority asks their opinion in connection with the formation of a pre-trial committee.

It also provides that the limitation period for the actions of the ministers should be the same as the period applied to citizens. Possible confiscation of economic benefits derived by a minister through illegal activities, ban on bank accounts operations and on the shares of the accused person, and even restrictive measures are some of the other important new introductions.
 
The PASOK speaker Lambros Mihos defined the bill as "an excellent opportunity to introduce the forces of balance into the existing constitution" and called on the other political forces to demonstrate that impunity is not a general phenomenon. According to the deputy, the provisions on the allowed forfeiture of benefits gained through illegal activities are especially important as well as that an accused former minister is entitled to turn to a judicial council or the special court concerning his case when an action is covered by a limitation period.

New Democracy speaker Costas Tzavaras said that the bill is a remarkable initiative and response to the difficulties faced daily by the political system. He said there is no lack of legal arsenal on crimes committed by ministers, but "some are bidding against politicians who are obliged to oppose these hysterical views that are dangerous for the country's future." "People let themselves be dragged into outbursts of disdain and thus enhance the aspirations of certain forces for another kind of political control" he said.

The parliamentary representative of New Democracy and lecturer on administrative law Prokopis Pavlopoulos stressed that the bill is important not so much for its nature but for its relevance and the message that should be sent until the adoption of the real changes, which could be introduced only after a revision of the constitution.
 
Antonis Skilakos from the Communist Party said that the public distrust to most of the politicians is justified because "although there are scandals, those responsible for them go unpunished." According to him, the bill itself, and the proposals made by the New Democracy for retrospective scrutiny of how they acquired their property for all persons who were members of the government after 1974 "are only communicative and demagogic in nature and do not affect the essence of the problem." Antonis Skilakos reiterated his party's proposal the limitation periods applied to all citizens to be approved and applied to the politicians and the strict lapse terms to be reduced in parallel. The communists also offer the decision on the formation of a pre-trial committee to be adopted not by the 151 votes of the government majority but by a minimum number of deputies, for example 100, even if the majority is against it. In their opinion, the Parliament should stop its interference in the formation of a pre-trial committee.

The LAOS speaker Athanasios Plevris also said that the people discontent concerning the behaviour of the two major parties is fully justified, because "some have stolen and others have covered their actions."

"Until PASOK does not recognize that black money entered the party’s funds and New Democracy does not recognize that the Vatoped monastery scandal was covered due to the limitation period, because its members left the parliament, the session of which was interrupted suddenly, no one should talk about unfair attacks on the political system." The young lawyer said that his party voted against the bill because treatment is a matter not of legal improvements but of political will which the political parties do not demonstrate."

For the members of SYRIZA, the impunity and concealment are the most common endings of the work of parliamentary control committees, since the goal is to belie the political opponent rather than the treatment" of political life. They abstained from voting, because "the bill contains amendments of symbolic nature and its purpose is to make an impression, therefore its provisions are not essential." SYRIZA’s speaker Vassilis Moulopoulos defined the basic provision on the establishment of the council of experts before a discussion on the formation of a pre-trial committee as a "transfer of responsibility from parliament to the judiciary in the form of justification, caused by this situation."

The members of the two new parties not represented in parliament - Democratic Alliance and Democratic Left - also voted in favour of the bill, but explained that the changes it introduces are shallow.