Greek Justice: Changes are coming to speed up the cases at the Supreme Court

Legal changes to speed up the proceedings in the Council of State, concerning cases directly related to the investment and economy sector, are being prepared by the Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis by the end of the year.

The Minister of Justice, in the context of a conference held (Invest.gr) where he participated on the topic of “Economy and Justice”, stated among other things that a new set of procedures for the Council of State will soon be ready, with the direct aim of speeding up the settlement of pending cases before the Supreme Court of the country, which is one of the chronic pathologies of the judicial system.

Mr. Floridis referred to the need to speed up procedures, primarily in administrative justice, pointing out that “the business world, whether it is foreign or domestic investors, is very interested that things move quickly, for investments or when it comes to for cases related to economic activity as there should not be many obstacles for these cases”.

Based on the planned arrangement, all the cases that will be brought to the CoS will be personally charged to a specific judge, who will be responsible for their management and will contribute to the cases.

So when these cases reach actual proceedings they will be completely ready, and postponements in their trial will be avoided in order to reduce the time required until the decision is issued to provide judicial protection to citizens and legal entities who appeal before the Council of the State.

“If, the minister stressed, there are any deficiencies in the case file, the party will be asked to fill them in,” and he added that the cases will arrive completely ready for consideration, either at the level of the judicial council or at the hearing, if they are deemed to be serious enough to reach trial. It is worth noting that in the Council of State, despite the efforts of the last few years, there are approximately 11,000 pending cases, while according to the latest Report of the Supreme Court for 2022, taking measures to reduce the backlog is having results, but at the same time there is still a way to go.

Annual Report

Specifically according to the Annual Report that had been made public and concerns the year 2022:

• On 1/1/2022 the pending cases were 12,312 and on 31.12.2022 they were 11,881. 3060 were introduced and 3491 processed within the year

• Of the 3,060 applications that reached the Council of State, 2,641 concerned applications for annulment and reversal of decisions – 1,278 reversals and 1,363 annulments – while the remaining 278 were appeals and the remaining 141 other decisions.

“The Council of State plays a vital role in upholding the rule of law and ensuring the protection of individual rights and freedoms. With its highly qualified judges, its dedicated staff and its unwavering commitment to providing high-quality judicial protection, the Court continues to fulfill its constitutional mission of providing a fair and impartial judgement” the President of the CoE Evangelia Nika had pointed out for her part .

Based on the planned arrangement, all the cases that will be brought to the CoS will be personally charged to a specific judge, who will be responsible for their management and will contribute to the cases.

Other changes just around the corner

During the same conference, the Minister of Justice also referred to the upcoming changes in the criminal trial, repeating that sentences even for misdemeanors will be partially served and that adjournments will only be given once in criminal trials and a second time only for health reasons and with paper from a public hospital.

He also referred to arrangements for a new judicial charter in the country, which will be ready soon, while regarding the institution of criminal conciliation, (that is, the criminally controlled person agreeing with the prosecution authorities on his guilt and the sentence that will be imposed on him), the the minister stated, that such a thing will be able to proceed from now on and before the criminal prosecution, which is not the case to date.

In any case, the Minister of Justice argued that the goal of the new regulations will be the issuance of a final decision (that is, also by the appeals court) within 550 days.

The position of Mr. Floridis on the legislative options of the Ministry of Justice was made during the 6th InvestGrForum 2023 organized by Public Affairs And Network at the Athens Conservatory, where many ministers, important political figures and actors of the economic life of the place participated.