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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 19 July 2023, a bill entitled “Ratification of: a) the Legislative Content Act of 12.6.2023 ‘Regulations for addressing urgent needs for the protection of public health and ensuring continuity in the administration of the Electronic National Social Security Institution (e-ΕΦΚΑ) (A’ 125) and b) the Legislative Content Act of 5. 7.2023, “Arrangements to address the urgent need to strengthen the staffing of ambulance crews in the structures of the National Emergency Assistance Centre, the Health Centres and the Multipurpose Regional Clinics of the island and mountainous areas of the country” (A΄ 132) and other urgent provisions.” was submitted to Parliament for adoption by the Ministry of Health.
This draft law consisted of 27 articles. Part A (Ratification of legislative acts) consisted of Articles 1-2; Part B (Emergency provisions under the competence of the Ministry of Health) consisted of Articles 3-6; Part C (Emergency provisions under the competence of the Ministry of Interior) consisted of Articles 7-24, which regulated, inter alia, matters relating to elections in local authorities and the transport of schoolchildren; and Part D (Other urgent provisions) consisted of Articles 25 and 26, which regulated matters relating to the removal of communications and the sports fan card. We note that:
(a) the regulatory impact analysis does not contain any reference to a public consultation of the bill, as recognised by the Scientific Service’s analysis (p. 8).
b) the bill in question (apart from the fact that it contained provisions for the ratification of 2 draft laws) regulated many different issues, which concerned many Ministries (Health, Interior, Justice, Education) and legislative areas (social policy, education-culture, public administration-public order-justice). For this reason it is not possible to identify any main subject.
On 26 July at 23:00, amendment 6/1/26-7-2023 (“Regulation of issues within the competence of the Ministries of Health, Education, Religious Affairs and Sports”) was tabled. This amendment consisted of 9 articles, which regulated issues related to the National Public Health Agency (articles 1-6), staffing of Second Chance Schools, teaching staff of Model and Experimental Schools and employment contracts for university cleaning services.
Later that day at 23:30, amendment 7/2/26-7-2023 (“Regulation of issues within the competence of the Ministries of Interior and National Defence”) was tabled. This amendment consisted of 10 articles, which regulated issues related to staffing transfers, the entry of appropriations in the budget of the ASEP to cover expenses, the annual recruitment planning, the extension of deadlines (see Articles 4, 5, 9 and 10) and employment contracts (see Article 8), the construction of the Rapid Border Patrol Vessel under Article 7 and the coverage of the repair needs of the other TPCs, as well as the postponement of the election procedure of the members of the Boards of Directors of the Chambers of Commerce.
These amendments a) were tabled the night before the law was passed, after the deadline for submitting amendments had already expired and b) contained provisions regulating many different issues, which were not related to any of the issues regulated by the bill itself.
On 26 July 2023, the Standing Committee on Social Affairs drew up a report to Parliament recommending that the bill be accepted, by majority vote, in principle, article by article and in its entirety.
On 27 July 2023, the bill was discussed in the Plenary of the Parliament and Law 5046/2023 was passed, with the same title but now consisting of 46 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 5046/2023.
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