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Thodoris Chondrogiannos 18 • 10 • 2021

Violation of the legislation on public consultation by the Ministry of Development and Investment

Thodoris Chondrogiannos
Violation of the legislation on public consultation by the Ministry of Development and Investment
18 • 10 • 2021

On October 12, 2021, the Ministry of Development and Investment submitted a legislative bill concerning transitioning to phasing out lignite to the website opengov.gr for public consultation. However, the process followed by the ministry violated the rules of public consultation and good legislation.

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.

Where is the problem with the rule of law?

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.

Thodoris Chondrogiannos
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