REPORTS
Exemption from the obligation to submit the National Development Program to public consultation
Greek legislation contains a network of legislative provisions (specifically, Article 85 paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, Presidential Decree 105/2018 and Article 61 of the law 4622/2019), which stipulate that public consultation on legislative bills is to be conducted through the website opengov.gr and should last for two weeks, which only exceptionally can be shortened to one week for sufficiently substantiated reasons, which should be mentioned in the public consultation report which is posted on the website where the consultation took place.
Based on the principles of the above legislation, Article 124 of law 4695/2019 (“I invest in Greece and other provisions”), stipulates that a plan for the revision of the National Development Program, “must be posted on the website www.opengov.gr for a period of fifteen (15) days, with the aim of allowing Ministries, local government authorities and social and economic partners to express their opinions.” This obligation arises whenever the Ministry of Development and Investment decide to revise the National Development Program, either, firstly, due to a change in priorities in the country’s development policy or, secondly, due to insufficient progress in the implementation of the existing program or, thirdly, due to changes in economic or other conditions prevailing in the Greek economy.
According to law, the submission of the National Development Program to public consultation aims to enable the expression of views by state organizations, local government and civil society on this extremely important issue. The involvement of public bodies and citizens in the process of the creation of legislation is a vital feature of a democratic state that is governed according to the rule of law; a state that listens to experts and society before legislating.
However, with a last minute amendment (“Establishment of an exemption from the obligation to post the draft of the revised National Development Program on the website www.opengov.gr“) unrelated in content to the main bill, submitted to Parliament in violation of Article 74 paragraph 5 of the Constitution, as well as Articles 87, 88 and 101 paragraph 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, the government amended Article 124 of law 4695/2019. The amendment, contrary to the principles of transparency and openness, introduced an exception from the obligation to submit the National Development Program to public consultation. According to the last paragraph of the above article: “In the event that the National Development Program is revised solely due to a change in the administrative structure of the country or the government, which requires the dismantling, merging or transfer of their programs or departments, no public consultation on the revised National Development Program through the website www.opengov.gr is required.”
The regulation was voted in as part of law 4872/2021 on December 9.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the government and Parliament should, in accordance with the principles of transparency and openness, protect and extend the rules that promote the participation of civil society in the law-making and policy-making processes that affect the lives of millions.
However, in this case the government legislated in the exact opposite direction, abolishing under certain conditions the obligation of the Administration to publish and put to public consultation the National Development Program, resulting in less transparency and openness in the operation of the state.
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