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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 28/12/2023 at 16:30, a bill entitled “Election of MEPs, facilitation of voters by postal vote, clearance of electoral rolls and other provisions of the Ministry of Interior” was submitted for public consultation by the Ministry of Interior.
This draft consisted of 48 articles, which regulated issues relating to the election of MEPs, the facilitation of voters by postal vote and the clearing of electoral rolls (Part A) and various other issues falling within the competence of the Ministry of the Interior (Part B ‘Other provisions of the Ministry of the Interior’).
The consultation was set to close on 10/01/2024 at 22:00, 13 days later. It should be noted at this point that no reference was found as to why the public consultation lasted less than two full weeks either in the report on the public consultation or in the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the draft law when it was submitted to Parliament.
On 11/01/2024 the bill was submitted to the Parliament for voting, having the same title but now consisting of 61 articles.
We note that the bill also contained 9 articles (Articles 40, 41, 43-46, 54, 55, 57) which were not present in the corresponding draft that underwent public consultation, and therefore do not seem to have passed the public consultation stage.
On 19/01/2024 at 20:45, amendment 75/8 19.1.2024 was submitted by the Ministries of Interior and of Rural Development and Food. This amendment contained 4 articles, which regulated issues relating to the state budget, the establishment of Local Government Development Agencies, the term of office of the members of the Management Board of the National Transparency Authority, and the tax-free and inalienable nature of aid granted by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. This amendment therefore mainly contained provisions that were not directly related to any of the issues regulated by the draft law submitted for consultation or the draft law introduced for adoption and can therefore be defined as irrelevant.
On 22/01/2024 at 18:20, amendment 79/12 22.1.2024 was tabled by the Ministry of Interior. This amendment contained 5 articles which related to the exercise of the right to vote by postal vote in national elections. This amendment was tabled on the first day of the debate of the bill in the Parliament (see the minutes of the meeting of 22-1-2024) and therefore was submitted literally at the last minute, long after the deadline for submitting amendments had expired. It should be noted that the amendment in question was tabled for debate and put to a vote but was not accepted due to the failure to obtain the required two-thirds majority of the total number of MPs.
On 19/01/2024, the Standing Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice prepared a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the above draft law, in principle, article by article and in its entirety.
The bill was debated in the Plenary on 22, 23 and 24 January 2024 and Law 5083/2024, consisting of 64 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 5083/2024.
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