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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 08/11/2023 at 23:35, a bill entitled “Loans: transparency, competition, protection of the vulnerable – Implementation of Directive (EU) 2021/2167” was put to public consultation by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It consisted of 107 articles, which related to the transposition of the EU Directive 2021/2167 (Part B), the supervision of the Capital Market (Part C) and the protection of debtors (Part D).
The consultation was set to close on 21/11/2023 at 9:00 am, (almost) 13 days later.
We note that despite the provisions of Article 61 of Law No. 4622/2019:
a) the report on the public consultation has not been posted on the opengov.gr website; and
b) no documentation (or even a reference) to the reason why the public consultation lasted less than two weeks was found in the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the draft law when it was submitted to Parliament.
On 22/11/2023, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for adoption, having the title “Loans: transparency, competition, protection of the vulnerable – Implementation of Directive (EU) 2021/2167, reintroduction of the “Heracles” programme and other urgent provisions” and consisting of 114 articles.
We also note here that the bill now contained some articles (namely Articles 106-113) which were not found in the corresponding draft law put to public consultation, and therefore do not seem to have passed the public consultation stage. The inclusion of these articles in separate parts of the draft law [Part E (Reintroduction of the Heracles programme – Amendment of Law 4649/2019) for Articles 106 to 112 and Part F (Other urgent provisions) for Article 113] also indicates the absence of a direct link between these articles and the other provisions of the draft law.
On 30/11/2023 at 22:55, amendment 44/13 30.11.2023 was submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The said amendment contained 4 articles, which referred to the transactions of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund in a regulated market, the exceptional legitimacy of credit managers, the possibility of including an advance payment in the counterproposal of financial institutions and the possibility – subject to conditions – of submitting a new application for out-of-court debt settlement procedures.
Later that day at 23:05 the amendment 45/14 30.11.2023 was submitted by the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Health and Justice. This amendment also contained 4 articles, which related to the granting of social solidarity allowance, the deadline for submitting Declarations of Assets and Financial Interests, the secondment of judicial officers to the Ministry of Justice, as well as the implementation of a closed budget and the setting of an expenditure limit for the active substance heparin.
These two amendments:
(a) were tabled the night before the opening of the debate, and therefore after the deadline for amendments had already expired; and
(b) they mainly contained provisions that were not directly related to any of the issues regulated by the draft sent for public consultation, particularly the provision related to Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund and the multitude of disparate (and under the responsibility of several ministries) issues regulated by the provisions of amendment No 45/14. Finally, it should be noted that all the provisions of the above amendments have been included in Part F of the (subsequently adopted) law, which is entitled ‘Other urgent provisions’.
On 30/11/2023 the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs prepared a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the bill.
The draft law was debated in the Plenary of the Parliament on 1st and 4th December 2023 and Law 5072/2023, consisting of 122 articles, was passed.
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 5072/2023.
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