Adherence to good lawmaking principles is linked to the rule of law. To ensure the production of good legislation, provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament regulate individual issues related to the legislative process and set certain rules that must be followed when drafting and submitting a bill or an amendment for voting (see, inter alia, Articles 74, 75 of the Constitution, Articles 85, 87, 88 and 101 and in general Articles 84-123 and 160 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament). Furthermore, law 4622/2019 regulates, through Articles 57 to 64, issues of legislative procedure and good legislation.
Based on these general rules and Article 59 paragraph 5 of law 4622/2019, the Manual of Legislative Drafting Methodology, issued in 2020, analyses and specifies the rules that must be observed in the framework of the legislative drafting process. This handbook provides, inter alia, instructions and directions regarding: the public consultation process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).
On 22/12/2023, a bill entitled “Strengthening the National System of Vocational Education and Training” was submitted for public consultation by the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports. This draft law consisted of 34 articles, which regulated, inter alia, issues related to schools of vocational training and the National System of Vocational Education and Training in general.
On 10/01/2024, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for voting, having the same title but now consisting of 40 articles.
It should be noted that the bill contained some articles (Articles 6, 8, 28 and 33 to 37) which were not found in the corresponding draft submitted for public consultation. Some of these articles were, in fact, included in a separate part of the draft law (Chapter G – Regulating the competences of the General Secretariat for Vocational Education, Training and Lifelong Learning) without, however, deviating from the subject matter of the other provisions and the draft law as a whole.
On 17/01/2024 at 20:45, amendment 72/2 17.1.2024 was tabled by the Ministry of Development. This amendment contained 4 articles, which regulated issues related to the rationalisation and transparency of prices, the upgrading of the capabilities of the e-katanalotis platform, as well as the access of uninsured patients with chronic renal failure to dialysis units and the extension of the duration of fixed-term employment contracts for staff of mental health facilities supervised by the Ministry of Health.
On the same day at 21:40, amendment 73/3 17.1.2024 was tabled by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. This amendment consisted of 5 articles which contained regulations related, among others, to the Fire Brigade and its personnel, the General Secretariat for Natural Disasters and State Relief and the taxing of securities issued by the Greek State.
We note that these amendments: a) were tabled the night before the law was passed and therefore after the deadline for submitting amendments had expired, and b) contained provisions that were not in any way related to any of the issues regulated by the draft law that was consulted or the draft law that was tabled for adoption (i.e. vocational education and training) and are therefore irrelevant. This is confirmed by the inclusion of the articles of the above amendments in a separate part of the draft law (Part B) entitled ‘Other urgent provisions’.
On 17/01/2024 the Standing Committee on Educational Affairs drew up a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the draft law, in principle, article by article and as a whole.
On 18/01/2024, the bill was debated in Parliament and Law 5082/2023 was passed, now entitled “Strengthening the National System of Vocational Education and Training and other urgent provisions” and consisting of 49 articles.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the Government and the Parliament must, in the process of preparing and passing legislation, follow the principles of good lawmaking and apply the rules established to promote and ensure it. This is because good lawmaking is linked to the constitutional principles of transparency and legal certainty, and the application of its rules and principles seek to avoid the phenomena of maladministration and omnibus legislation, which are inconsistent with the principles of the rule of law.
In Greece, however, the violation of these rules of good lawmaking appears to be a long-standing and systematic problem, as highlighted by the legislative journey of Law 5082/2024.
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