Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday presented his party’s proposals for sweeping changes to the Greek Constitution, heralding reforms that would reduce the terms of state officials and increase the accountability of ministers as well as the transparency of political parties.
The proposed reforms, outlined before an audience of New Democracy members at the Athens Concert Hall, cannot be implemented until the next Parliament sits, and the next general elections are not due until 2016. But Samaras presented the suggested overhaul as part of a broader bid to cast his party, which leads the ruling coalition, as forward-looking and progressive ahead of looming local authority and European Parliament elections.
Main points of the proposed reforms include:
- re-examining the parliamentary immunity for MPs
- setting a limit on the time prime ministers, local authority officials and trade unionists can serve in office
- improving the transparency of party finances
- ministers to be obliged to give up their seats in Parliament
- reduction in the number of lawmakers in the Greek Parliament – currently they are 300, talks is to reduce them to 200
- election of the president by the public
- broadening of the powers of the president – Samaras did not elaborate (via ekathimerini)
Coalition government party PASOK has attacked Nea Dimocratia for announcing constitutional reforms without previous consultations and consent.
Can a party gathering below 25% initiate Constitutional reforms? I doubt it….
PS Constitutional reforms are not bad but currently Greeks struggle with the “economic reforms of their empty wallets.”
