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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 23 November 2023 at 23:58, a bill entitled “Reform of professional insurance, rationalization of insurance legislation, pension regulations, system of appointment and recruitment of teachers of the public employment service and other provisions”, which consisted of 182 articles, was put to public consultation by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
As stated in the regulatory impact analyses posted together with the draft law on opengov.gr, the above provisions relate to the legislative areas ‘social policy’ and ‘education-culture’ (see selected legislative areas in the regulatory impact analysis for Section A, regulatory impact analysis for Section B and regulatory impact analysis for Section C).
The consultation was set to close on 6 December 2023 at 09:00, 13 (almost) days later. It is noted at this point that, despite what is provided for in 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 any 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 the Parliament.
On 8 December 2023, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for voting, having the same title but now consisting of 187 articles. Some of these articles (132, 134, 141, 142, 182 and 183) were not found in the corresponding draft law that was subject to public consultation and therefore do not appear to have passed the public consultation stage.
On Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 22:45, amendment 56/7/14-12-2023 was submitted by the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum. This amendment consisted of 5 articles, which regulated issues related to the obligations of employers and third country nationals who are recruited, a National Coordinator against Irregular Immigration, the access of applicants for international protection to the labour market, the granting of a new type of residence permit for work to third country nationals and the possibility for beneficiaries of temporary protection to be subject to the provisions of the Migration Code.
On Friday, December 15, 2023 at 22:00, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security filed amendment 59/10/15-12-2023. This amendment consisted of 3 articles, which regulated issues related to the Single Account for the Implementation of Social Policies as well as the e-EFKA Real Estate Development Company.
We note that:
(a) amendment 59/10 was tabled on a Friday evening, despite the fact that Rule 87 of the Rules of Procedure states that the tabling of amendments on Friday is “no later than 13.00”; and
(b) the provisions contained in both of the above-mentioned amendments were placed in Section D (“Other Provisions”) of the Act, which also indicates that they are not directly related to any of the other issues regulated by the Act.
On Friday, 15 December 2023, the Standing Committee on Social Affairs drew up a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the bill. The bill was discussed in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on 18 and 19 December 2023 and Law 5078/2023 consisting of 195 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 5078/2023.
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