Private universities, public sector evaluation, a six-year presidential term, ending civil service tenure, and other bold proposals are included in New Democracy’s plan for constitutional reform, which will begin unfolding today. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis will announce the start of this months-long process at noon during his briefing to political editors, while Kyriakos Mitsotakis will outline the basic philosophy of the changes in a television interview on SKAI tonight. Evripidis Stylianidis will likely be New Democracy’s rapporteur, unless he ultimately assumes the position of president of the parliamentary committee for the reform.
“Currently, the Constitution in Article 103 guarantees the tenure of civil servants. I believe the time has come to discuss the revision of Article 103,” the prime minister said previously. He called on PASOK to position itself on his proposal not with half-words but with clear answers, as the Constitution requires broader majorities and consensus. Overall, the reform process is being approached by the government as an exercise in consensus with opposition parties, which it will invite to participate in good faith in the discussion with proposals, so that substantive dialogue can take place rather than sterile confrontation.
“Tenure existed since the time of Klafthmonos Square so that one party wouldn’t persecute the civil servants that another party might have appointed, because these things happened in Greek history,” Mr. Mitsotakis has emphasized, explaining his decision to propose the revision of Article 103. “I think we have moved beyond that era, where civil servants feel they might be threatened by a change of government. And in no case can tenure function as a force of inertia. Because this can happen today.”
From the parliamentary podium, the prime minister has announced that one of the governing majority’s proposals will include incorporating civil servant evaluation into the Constitution. As he characteristically stated, “New Democracy will propose to institutionally and constitutionally guarantee evaluation in the public sector. Evaluation also by citizens who will use the services.”
Last year, during the announcement he made regarding Kostas Tasoulas’s candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic, Mr. Mitsotakis revealed another proposal that he would incorporate into the governing majority’s initiative. “Given the unifying mission that the President of the Republic has, I believe he should be elected for one and only one six-year term. Thus, the discussion about renewing his stay in office would not open the dance of confrontations every so often. And the institution would remain far from partisan considerations,” the prime minister announced.
Simultaneously, the reform opens the way for renewed changes to Article 86 of the Constitution, which provides that “only Parliament has the authority to prosecute those who serve or have served as government members or deputy ministers for criminal offenses committed in the exercise of their duties, as the law defines.”
The core of the proposal for this change is found in the comprehensive reform plan “An Innovative Constitution for Greece,” written in 2016 by current Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, together with renowned law professors such as Nikos Alivizatos and Filippos Spyropoulos and others. “We propose a fundamental change to the regulation on the criminal liability of ministers, so that they are prosecuted by decision of a collective judicial body –the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court– and not Parliament, as today. This puts an end to an outdated privilege that no longer corresponds to the universal demand that ministers should be treated in principle like ordinary mortals,” that proposal characteristically noted.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis has already publicly called on the main opposition to agree in advance with the government on four issues, two that New Democracy will have raised and two that PASOK will have raised. Thus, he declared ready to put forward for revision the article on the method of selecting the judiciary and Article 86 concerning the criminal treatment of ministers (“Prosecution against government members, Special Court”), but also the constitutional guarantee of evaluation and the change of Article 16, which would allow the establishment of private universities in the country.
We remind you that the current Parliament is the proposing one. With a majority of three-fifths of the total number of members (180 MPs) in two votes that are at least one month apart, all provisions that need to be revised are determined. The next Parliament, whatever emerges from the 2027 national elections, is the one that, during its first session, decides by absolute majority of the total number of its members (151 MPs) on the provisions to be revised. If the proposal for constitutional revision passes with more than 151 MPs but not 180, then the next Parliament can decide on the provisions to be revised with a majority of 180 MPs.
“We will all be tested in the constitutional reform and we will be tested on how much willingness we have to move the country forward, that is, so that the country can have non-state universities from the start and not just branches, Article 16. Article 86 should not pass through Parliament’s filter and the referral or not of a minister should not depend on each majority. But also other very serious issues like for me, let’s say, putting an end to maximalism and the plurality of party programs,” Pavlos Marinakis declared yesterday.
