REPORTS
Violation of the legislation on public consultation by the Ministry of Development and Investment
According to Article 61 paragraphs 2, 3 & 4 of law 4622/2019, (Government Gazette A ‘133 / 07.08.2019), “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.”
On October 12, 2021, the Ministry of Development and Investment posted on the public consultation website a bill entitled “Fair Development Transition and regulation of issues concerning the phasing out of lignite.” The consultation lasted until October 19, which means that the government made use of the legal provisions for shortening the consultation to less than the usual two weeks, in fact almost to the legal limit of one week.
However, in this case the Ministry of Development and Investment did not comply with the legal provisions for public consultation and good legislative practices, failing to state on the website opengov.gr the “sufficiently documented reasons” for the shortened period of consultation. Article 61 of Law 4622/2019 stipulates that in cases where the consultation period is shortened, the relevant ministry must state the reasons for this in the public consultation report. This report is prepared at the end of the consultation period and presents the comments and suggestions of those who participated in the consultation and documents whether or not they were incorporated into the final provisions. The report forms part of the final Regulatory Impact Analysis, which is also posted on the public consultation website.
In this case, the Ministry of Development and Investment did not follow the above legal procedure, failing to post the above report on the public consultation website and failing to disclose the reasons for shortening the public consultation procedure. In fact, the only Regulatory Impact Analysis posted by the ministry was drafted at the beginning of the consultation process rather than the end, and does not mention a sufficiently substantiated reason for shortening the consultation.
In a state that adheres to the rule of law, the government strictly follows the rules of good legislation, as this presumes the improvement of legislative work and seeks to avoid the negative consequences of bad legislative practices (such as, for example, the multiplicity and incomprehensibility of legal provisions that haunt Greek legislation).
Furthermore, the implementation of the rules of good legislation contributes to the consolidation of citizens’ trust in institutions and the law, as they see that the government complies with the law, and the democratic principle of equality before the law is strengthened. This is even more true of public consultation, the establishment of which allows civil society to be actively involved in shaping the rules that govern a democratic society.
However, in this case the Ministry of Development and Investment did not apply the rules regarding the shortening of the consultation period, limiting the ability of citizens to express their views on issues concerning the green transition and the phasing out of lignite.
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