Another institutional derailment: Legislating on citizenship through leaks

Press Release

1. On Tuesday afternoon, November 13th, part of the contents of the decision of the State Council on Law 3838/10 leaks in the press. The decision is not published. In this sense, we are not yet dealing with a legal event. In other words, legally, we don?t have a decision. What is happening is that its potential contents have leaked. It is the first institutional crash afflicting the authority of the Council: the President of the 4th Department of the State Council was the same judge who presided over the controversial plenary conference… In this sense, whatever discussion occurs does so once the content of the publications is verified. The next day, Wednesday morning, with the announcement of the General Secretariat of the Governmentare the competent prime ministers are invited to “give appropriate directions for the immediate implementation of previous day?s State Council decision.” An even more crucial blow to the troubled judicial independence and the state of law… In Greece we can?t even preserve appearances. Nor could we wait for the decision to be engrossed…

2. In a democracy, citizens can disagree about the way they envision the composition of the people: our Union has fought directly with all its powers to realize the legislative reform of 3838/2010. It is obvious, absolutely legitimate and expected that part of the country?s political forces has a different view. Democracy solves such differences by giving the majority the right to legislate. Institutionally, in this perspective, the government?s will to change a law the repealing of which had been the prime minister?s election campaign flag is perfectly reasonable. But, on the contrary, the study of changing the law by citing a leak – a disgrace to the CoE ? is inconceivable. Equally inconceivable and perhaps even more dangerous, is the disguise of the ideological and political preferences of the majority of judges in a constitutional decree.

Unfortunately, the Greek fiscal derailment is followed by an institutional. The roads for the democratic regime are slippery indeed…