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 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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 14 March 2023 at 22:30, the Ministry of Finance submitted a bill for public consultation. The bill consisted of 63 articles (Parts A-E) and regulated issues related to the management of assets derived from criminal acts and frozen/seized assets; provided for measures to implement or transpose EU regulations or directives and amended provisions of Laws No. 4557/2018 and 4972/2022 as well as Presidential Decree 237/1986. The consultation was set to close on 27 March 2023 at 20:00, i.e. 13 days later.
It is noted at this point that article 61 of Law No. 4622/2019 establishes that the public consultation process should have a duration of two weeks, which may be shortened to one week if sufficient justification is provided. We note that neither the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the bill during the consultation nor the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the bill upon its introduction to Parliament, contained any reference to justify the shortening of the public consultation period. On 29 March 2023, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for voting, having now 64 articles.
On 5 April 2023 at 21:55, amendment 1694/253/5-4-2023 was submitted, which contained 8 articles regulating matters under the competence of the Ministry of Development and Investment. On the same day at 23:50, amendment 1695/254/5-4-2023 was submitted, which contained 11 articles regulating issues under the competence of the Ministry of Finance.
These amendments: a) were tabled the night before the law was passed and therefore after the deadline for submitting amendments had already expired and b) contained mainly provisions that were not related to any of the issues regulated by the core bill. On April 6, 2023, the bill was debated in the Plenary of the House of Representatives and Law 5042/2023, which now consisted of 83 articles, was passed.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the Government and the Parliament must create laws in accordance with both the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, as well as the other rules that have been established to guarantee and promote good and transparent lawmaking practices.
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 5042/2023.
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