Article 1
1. The form of government of Greece is that of a parliamentary republic.
2. Popular sovereignty is the foundation of government.
3. All powers derive from the People and exist for the People and the Nation;
they shall be exercised as specified by the Constitution.
Article 2
1. Respect and protection of the value of the human being constitute the
primary obligations of the State.
2. Greece, adhering to the generally recognised rules of international law,
pursues the strengthening of peace and of justice, and the fostering of
friendly relations between peoples and States.
SECTION II
Article 3
1. The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of
Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as
its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in
Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine,
observing unwaveringly, as they do, the holy apostolic and synodal canons and
sacred traditions. It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod
of serving Bishops and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and
assembled as specified by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance
with the provisions of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal
Act of September 4, 1928.
2. The ecclesiastical regime existing in certain districts of the State shall
not be deemed contrary to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
3. The text of the Holy Scripture shall be maintained unaltered. Official
translation of the text into any other form of language, without prior
sanction by the Autocephalous Church of Greece and the Great Church of Christ
in Constantinople, is prohibited.
Article 4
1. All Greeks are equal before the law.
2. Greek men and women have equal rights and equal obligations.
3. All persons possessing the qualifications for citizenship as specified by
law are Greek citizens. Withdrawal of Greek citizenship shall be permitted
only in case of voluntary acquisition of another citizenship or of undertaking
service contrary to national interests in a foreign country, under the
conditions and procedures more specifically provided by law.
4. Only Greek citizens shall be eligible for public service, except as
otherwise provided by special laws.
5. Greek citizens contribute without distinction to public charges in
proportion to their means.
6. Every Greek capable of bearing arms is obliged to contribute to the defence
of the Fatherland as provided by law.
7. Titles of nobility or distinction are neither conferred upon nor recognized
in Greek citizens.
**
Interpretative clause:
The provision of paragraph 6 does not preclude the law to provide mandatory
provision of other services, within or outside the armed forces (alternative
service), by those having substantiated conscientious objection to performing
armed or military duties in general.
Article 5
1. All persons shall have the right to develop freely their personality and to
participate in the social, economic and political life of the country, insofar
as they do not infringe the rights of others or violate the Constitution and
the good usages.
2. All persons living within the Greek territory shall enjoy full protection
of their life, honour and liberty irrespective of nationality, race or
language and of religious or political beliefs. Exceptions shall be permitted
only in cases provided by international law.
The extradition of aliens prosecuted for their action as freedom-fighters
shall be prohibited.
3. Personal liberty
is inviolable. No one shall be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned or otherwise
confined except when and as the law provides.
** 4. Individual administrative measures restrictive of the free movement
or residence in the country, and of the free exit and entrance therein of
every Greek shall be prohibited. Restrictive measures of such content may be
imposed only as additional penalty following a criminal court ruling, in
exceptional cases of emergency and only in order to prevent the commitment of
criminal acts, as specified by law.
** 5. All persons are entitled to the protection of their health and of their genetic identity. Matters relating to the protection of every person against biomedical interventions shall be specified by law.
Interpretative clause:
Paragraph 4 does not preclude the prohibition of exit from the country for persons being prosecuted on criminal charges by act of the public prosecutor, or the imposition of measures necessary for the protection of public health or the health of sick persons, as specified by law.
** Article 5A
1. All persons are entitled to information, as specified by law.
Restrictions to this right may be imposed by law only insofar as they are
absolutely necessary and justified for reasons of national security, of
combating crime or of protecting rights and interests of third parties.
2. All persons are entitled to participate in the Information Society. Facilitation of access to electronically handled information, as well as of the production, exchange and diffusion thereof constitutes an obligation of the State, always in observance of the guarantees of articles 9, 9A and 19.
Article 6
1. No person shall be arrested or imprisoned without a reasoned judicial
warrant which must be served at the moment of arrest or detention pending
trial, except when caught in the act of committing a crime.
2. A person who is arrested in the act of committing a crime or on a warrant
shall be brought before the competent examining magistrate within twenty-four
hours of his arrest at the latest; should the arrest be made outside the seat
of the examining magistrate, within the shortest time required to transfer him
thereto. The examining magistrate must, within three days from the day the
person was brought before him, either release the detainee or issue a warrant
of imprisonment. Upon application of the person brought before him or in case
of force majeure confirmed by decision of the competent judicial council, this
time-limit shall be extended by two days.
3. Should either of these time-limits elapse before action has been taken, any
warden or other officer, civil or military servant, responsible for the
detention of the arrested person must release him immediately. Violators shall
be punished for illegal detention and shall be liable to restore any damage
caused to the sufferer and to pay him a monetary compensation for pain and
suffering, as specified by law.
** 4. The maximum duration of detention pending trial shall be specified by
law; such detention may not exceed a period of one year in the case of
felonies or six months in the case of misdemeanours. In entirely exceptional
cases, the maximum durations may be extended by six or three months
respectively, by decision of the competent judicial council. The excess of the
maximum duration of detention pending trial, by successively applying this
measure for separate acts referring to the same case, is prohibited.
Article 7
1. There shall be no crime, nor shall punishment be inflicted unless specified
by law in force prior to the perpetration of the act, defining the
constitutive elements of the act. In no case shall punishment more severe than
that specified at the time of the perpetration of the act be inflicted.
2. Torture, any bodily maltreatment, impairment of health or the use of
psychological violence, as well as any other offence against human dignity are
prohibited and punished as provided by law.
** 3. General confiscation of property is prohibited. The death sentence
shall not be imposed, except for the cases provided by the law for felonies
perpetrated in wartime and connected to the war.
4. The conditions under which the State, following a judicial decision, shall indemnify persons unjustly or illegally convicted, detained pending trial, or otherwise deprived of their personal liberty shall be provided by law.
Article 8
No person shall be deprived of the judge assigned to him by law against his
will.
Judicial committees or extraordinary courts, under any name whatsoever, shall
not be constituted.
Article 9
1. Every person's home is a sanctuary. The private and family life of the
individual is inviolable. No home search shall be made, except when and as
specified by law and always in the presence of representatives of the judicial
power.
2. Violators of the preceding provision shall be punished for violating the
home's asylum and for abuse of power, and shall be liable for full damages to
the sufferer, as specified by law.
** Article 9A
All persons have the right to be protected from the collection, processing and
use, especially by electronic means, of their personal data, as specified by
law. The protection of personal data is ensured by an independent authority,
which is established and operates as specified by law.
Article 10
1. Each person, acting on his own or together with others, shall have the
right, observing the laws of the State, to petition in writing public
authorities, who shall be obliged to take prompt action in accordance with
provisions in force, and to give a written and reasoned reply to the
petitioner as provided by law.
2. Prosecution of the person who has submitted a petition for punishable acts
contained therein shall be permitted only after notification of the final
decision of the authority to which the petition was addressed has taken place
and after permission of this authority has been obtained.
** 3. The competent service or authority is obliged to reply to requests
for information and for issuing documents, especially certificates, supporting
documents and attestations within a set deadline not exceeding 60 days, as
specified by law. In case this deadline elapses without action or in case of
unlawful refusal, in addition to any other sanctions and consequences at law,
special compensation is also paid to the applicant, as specified by law.
Article 11
1. Greeks shall have the right to assemble peaceably and unarmed.
2. The police may be present only at outdoor public assemblies. Outdoor
assemblies may be prohibited by a reasoned police authority decision, in
general if a serious threat to public security is imminent, and in a specific
area, if a serious disturbance of social and economic life is threatened, as
specified by law.
** Article 12
1. Greeks shall have the right to form non-profit associations and unions, in
compliance with the law, which, however, may never subject the exercise of
this right to prior permission.
2. An association may not be dissolved for violation of the law or of a
substantial provision of its statutes, except by court judgment.
3. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply, as the case may be,
to unions of persons not constituting an association.
4. Agricultural and urban cooperatives of all types shall be self-governed
according to the provisions of the law and of their statutes; they shall be
under the protection and supervision of the State which is obliged to provide
for their development.
5. Establishment by law of compulsory cooperatives serving purposes of common
benefit or public interest or common exploitation of farming areas or other
wealth producing sources shall be permitted, on condition however that the
equal treatment of all participants shall be assured.
Article 13
1. Freedom of religious conscience is inviolable. The enjoyment of civil
rights and liberties does not depend on the individual's religious beliefs.
2. All known religions shall be free and their rites of worship shall be
performed unhindered and under the protection of the law. The practice of
rites of worship is not allowed to offend public order or the good usages.
Proselytism is prohibited.
3. The ministers of all known religions shall be subject to the same
supervision by the State and to the same obligations toward it as those of the
prevailing religion.
4. No person shall be exempt from discharging his obligations to the State or
may refuse to comply with the laws by reason of his religious convictions.
5. No oath shall be imposed or administered except as specified by law and in
the form determined by law.
Article 14
1. Every person may express and propagate his thoughts orally, in writing and
through the press in compliance with the laws of the State.
2. The press is free. Censorship and all other preventive measures are
prohibited.
3. The seizure of newspapers and other publications before or after
circulation is prohibited.
Seizure by order of the public prosecutor shall be allowed exceptionally after
circulation and in case of:
a) an offence against the Christian or any other known religion.
b) an insult against the person of the President of the Republic.
c) a publication which discloses information on the composition, equipment and set-up of the armed forces or the fortifications of the country, or which aims at the violent overthrow of the regime or is directed against the territorial integrity of the State.
d) an obscene publication which is obviously offensive to public decency, in the cases stipulated by law.
4. In all
the cases specified under the preceding paragraph, the public prosecutor must,
within twenty-four hours from the seizure, submit the case to the judicial
council which, within the next twenty-four hours, must rule whether the
seizure is to be maintained or lifted; otherwise it shall be lifted ipso jure.
An appeal may be lodged with the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court by the publisher of the newspaper or other printed matter
seized and by the public prosecutor.
** 5. Every person offended by an inaccurate publication or broadcast has
the right to reply, and the information medium has a corresponding obligation
for full and immediate retraction. Every person offended by an insulting or
defamatory publication or broadcast has also the right to reply, and the
information medium has a corresponding obligation for immediate publication or
transmission of the reply. The manner in which the right to reply is exercised
and in which the full and immediate retraction or publication and transmission
of the reply is made, shall be specified by law.
6. After at
least three convictions within five years for the criminal acts defined under
paragraph 3, the court shall order the definitive ban or the temporary
suspension of the publication of the paper and, in severe cases, shall
prohibit the convicted person from practising the profession of journalist as
specified by law. The ban or suspension of publication shall be effective as
of the date the court order becomes irrevocable.
** 7. The matters relating to the civil and criminal liability of the press
and of the other media and to the expeditious court hearing of relevant cases
shall be specified by law.
8. The
conditions and qualifications requisite for the practice of the profession of
journalist shall be specified by law.
** 9. The ownership status, the financial condition and the financing means
of information media should be disclosed, as specified by law. The measures
and restrictions necessary for fully ensuring transparency and plurality in
information shall be specified by law. Concentration of the control of more
than information media of the same type or of different types is prohibited.
More specifically, concentration of more than one electronic information media
of the same type is prohibited, as specified by law. The capacity of owner,
partner, main shareholder or management executive of an information media
enterprise is incompatible with the capacity of owner, partner, main
shareholder or management executive of an enterprise that undertakes towards
the Public Administration or towards a legal entity of the wider public sector
to carry out works or supplies or to provide services. The prohibition of the
previous section also applies to all types of intercalated persons, such as
spouses, relatives, financially dependent persons or companies. A law shall
set out the specific regulations, the sanctions which may be carried to the
point of revoking the license of a radio or television station and to the
point of prohibiting conclusion of or annulling the relevant contract, as well
as the means of control and the guarantees for deterring infringements of the
previous sections.
Article 15
1. The protective provisions for the press in the preceding article shall not
be applicable to films, sound recordings, radio, television or any other
similar medium for the transmission of speech or images.
** 2. Radio and television shall be under the direct control of the State.
The control and imposition of administrative sanctions are under the exclusive
competence of the National Radiotelevision Council, which is an independent
authority, as specified by law. The direct control of the State, which also
takes the form of the prior permission status, shall aim at the objective
transmission, on equal terms, of information and news reports, as well as of
works of literature and art, at ensuring the quality level of programs in
consideration of the social mission of radio and television and of the
cultural development of the Country, and at the respect of the value of the
human being and the protection of childhood and youth.
The matters relating to the mandatory and free transmission of the sessions of Parliament and of its committees, as well as of electoral addresses of the political parties by broadcasting media, shall be specified by law.
Article 16
1. Art and science, research and teaching shall be free and their development
and promotion shall be an obligation of the State. Academic freedom and
freedom of teaching shall not exempt anyone from his duty of allegiance to the
Constitution.
2. Education constitutes a basic mission for the State and shall aim at the
moral, intellectual, professional and physical training of Greeks, the
development of national and religious consciousness and at their formation as
free and responsible citizens.
3. The number of years of compulsory education shall be no less than nine.
4. All Greeks are entitled to free education on all levels at State
educational institutions. The State shall provide financial assistance to
those who distinguish themselves, as well as to students in need of assistance
or special protection, in accordance with their abilities.
5. Education at university level shall be provided exclusively by institutions
which are fully self-governed public law legal persons. These institutions
shall operate under the supervision of the State and are entitled to financial
assistance from it; they shall operate on the basis of statutorily enacted
by-laws. Merging or splitting of university level institutions may take place
notwithstanding any contrary provisions, as a law shall provide.
A special law shall define all matters pertaining to student associations and
the participation of students therein.
6. Professors of
university level institutions shall be public functionaries. The remaining
teaching personnel likewise perform a public function, under the conditions
specified by law. The statutes of respective institutions shall define matters
relating to the status of all the above.
Professors of university level institutions shall not be dismissed prior to
the lawful termination of their term of service, except in the cases of the
substantive conditions provided by article 88 paragraph 4 and following a
decision by a council constituted in its majority of highest judicial
functionaries, as specified by law.
The retirement age of professors of university level institutions shall be
determined by law; until such law is issued, professors on active service
shall retire ipso jure at the end of the academic year at which they have
reached the age of sixty-seven.
7. Professional and any other form of special education shall be provided by
the State, through schools of a higher level and for a time period not
exceeding three years, as specifically provided by law which also defines the
professional rights of the graduates of such schools.
8. The conditions and terms for granting a license for the establishment and
operation of schools not owned by the State, the supervision of such and the
professional status of teaching personnel therein shall be specified by law.
The establishment of university level institutions by private persons is
prohibited.
9. Athletics shall be under the protection and the ultimate supervision of the
State.
The State shall make grants to and shall control all types of athletic
associations, as specified by law. The use of grants in accordance with the
purpose of the associations receiving them shall also be specified by law.
Article 17
1. Property is under the protection of the State; rights deriving therefrom,
however, may not be exercised contrary to the public interest.
** 2. No one shall be deprived of his property except for public benefit
which must be duly proven, when and as specified by statute and always
following full compensation corresponding to the value of the expropriated
property at the time of the court hearing on the provisional determination of
compensation. In cases in which a request for the final determination of
compensation is made, the value at the time of the court hearing of the
request shall be considered.
If the court hearing on the final determination of compensation takes place after one year has elapsed from the court hearing on the provisional determination, then for the determination of the compensation the value at the time of the court hearing on the final determination shall be taken into account. The capability to cover the expropriation expenditure should be specifically justified in the decision for declaration. Provided that the beneficiary consents to it, the compensation may be also paid in kind, especially in the form of granting ownership of some other property or of granting rights over some other property.
3. Any change in
the value of expropriated property occurring after publication of the act of
expropriation and resulting exclusively therefrom shall not be taken into
account.
** 4. Compensation shall in all cases be determined by the competent
courts. Such compensation may also be determined provisionally by the court
after hearing or summoning the beneficiary, who may be obliged, at the
discretion of the court, to furnish a commensurate guarantee for collecting
the compensation as provided by the law. A law may provide the establishment
of a uniform jurisdiction, notwithstanding article 94, for all disputes and
cases relating to expropriation, as well as for conducting the relevant
processes before the courts as a matter of priority. The manner in which
pending processes before the courts are continued, may be regulated by the
same law.
Prior to payment of the final or provisional compensation determined by the court, all rights of the owner shall be maintained intact and occupation of the property shall not be allowed.
In order for works of a general importance for the economy of the country to be carried out, the execution of works even prior to the determination and payment of the compensation may be allowed by special decision of the court which is competent for the final or provisional determination of the compensation, provided that a reasonable part of the compensation is paid and that full guarantees are provided in favour of the beneficiary of the compensation, as provided by law. The second period of the first section applies accordingly also to these cases.
Compensation in
the amount determined by the court must in all cases be paid within one and
one half years at the latest from the date of publication of the decision
regarding provisional determination of compensation payable, and in cases of a
direct request for the final determination of compensation, from the date of
publication of the court ruling, otherwise the expropriation shall be revoked
ipso jure.
The
compensation as such is exempt from any taxes, deductions or fees.
5. The cases in which compulsory compensation shall be paid to the
beneficiaries for lost income from expropriated property until the time of
payment of the compensation shall be specified by law.
6. In the case of execution of works serving the public benefit or being of a
general importance to the economy of the country, a law may allow the
expropriation in favour of the State of wider zones beyond the areas necessary
for the execution of the works. The said law shall specify the conditions and
terms of such expropriation, as well as the matters pertaining to the disposal
for public or public utility purposes in general, of areas expropriated in
excess of those required.
7. The digging of underground tunnels at the appropriate depth without
compensation, may be allowed by law for the execution of works of evident
public utility for the State, public law legal persons, local government
agencies, public utility agencies and public enterprises, on condition that
the normal exploitation of the property situated above shall not be hindered.
Article 18
1. The ownership and disposal of mines, quarries, caves, archaeological sites
and treasures, mineral, running and underground waters and underground
resources in general, shall be regulated by special laws.
2. The ownership, exploitation and administration of lagoons and large lakes,
as well as the general disposal of areas resulting from the draining of such,
shall be regulated by law.
3. Requisitions of property for the needs of the armed forces in case of war
or mobilization, or for the purpose of facing an immediate social emergency
that may endanger public order or health, shall be regulated by special laws.
4. The redistribution of agricultural areas for the purpose of exploiting the
land more profitably, as well as the adoption of measures to prevent excessive
parcelling or to facilitate restructuring of small parcelled farm holdings,
shall be allowed in accordance with the procedure specified by special law.
5. In addition to the cases specified in the preceding paragraphs, the law may
provide for other necessary deprivations of the free use and enjoyment of
property, owing to special circumstances. The law shall specify the obligor
and the procedure of payment to the person entitled to compensation for the
use or enjoyment, which must be commensurate to the conditions present on each
occasion.
Measures imposed in accordance with this paragraph shall be lifted as soon as
the special reasons that necessitated them cease to exist. In case of undue
prolongation of the measures, the Supreme Administrative Court shall decide on
their revocation, by categories of cases, upon recourse by any person having a
legitimate interest.
6. A law may regulate the disposal of abandoned lands for the purpose of
revalorising them to the benefit of the national economy and the
rehabilitation of destitute farmers. The same law shall provide for the
matters of partial or full compensation of owners, in case of their
reappearance within a reasonable time limit.
7. Compulsory joint ownership of adjoining properties in urban areas may be
introduced by law, if independent rebuilding on the said properties or some of
them does not conform with the applicable or prospective building regulations
in the area.
8. Farmlands belonging to the Patriarchal Monasteries of Aghia Anastasia
Pharmacolytria in Chalkidiki, of Vlatadhes in Thessaloniki and Ioannis the
Evangelist Theologos in Patmos, with the exception of the dependencies
thereof, cannot be subject to expropriation. Likewise the property in Greece
of the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antiocheia and Jerusalem and that of the
Holy Monastery of Mount Sinai cannot be subject to expropriation.
Article 19
1. Secrecy of letters and all other forms of free correspondence or
communication shall be absolutely inviolable. The guaranties under which the
judicial authority shall not be bound by this secrecy for reasons of national
security or for the purpose of investigating especially serious crimes, shall
be specified by law.
** 2. The matters relating to the establishment, operation and powers of the independent authority ensuring the secrecy of paragraph 1 shall be specified by law.
** 3. Use of evidence acquired in violation of the present article and of articles 9 and 9A is prohibited.
Article 20
1. Every person shall be entitled to receive legal protection by the courts
and may plead before them his views concerning his rights or interests, as
specified by law.
2. The right of a person to a prior hearing also applies in any administrative
action or measure adopted at the expense of his rights or interests.
Article 21
1. The family, being the cornerstone of the preservation and the advancement
of the Nation, as well as marriage, motherhood and childhood, shall be under
the protection of the State.
2. Families with many children, disabled war and peace-time veterans, war
victims, widows and orphans, as well as persons suffering from incurable
bodily or mental ailments are entitled to the special care of the State.
3. The State shall care for the health of citizens and shall adopt special
measures for the protection of youth, old age, disability and for the relief
of the needy.
4. The acquisition of a home by the homeless or those inadequately sheltered
shall constitute an object of special State care.
** 5. The planning and application of a demographic policy, as well as the taking of all necessary measures, shall be an obligation of the State.
** 6. People with disabilities are entitled to benefit from measures ensuring their self-sufficiency, professional integration and participation in the social, economic and political life of the Country.
** Article 22
1. work constitutes a right and shall enjoy the protection of the State,
which shall seek to create conditions of employment for all citizens and shall
pursue the moral and material advancement of the rural and urban working
population.
All workers, irrespective of sex or other distinctions, shall be entitled to
equal pay for work of equal value.
2. General working conditions shall be determined by law, supplemented by
collective labour agreements concluded through free negotiations and, in case
of the failure of such, by rules determined by arbitration.
3. The matters relating to the conclusion of collective labour agreements by
civil servants and employees of local government or of other legal entities of
public law, shall be specified by law.
4. Any form of
compulsory work is prohibited.
Special laws shall determine the requisition of personal services in case of
war or mobilization or to face defence needs of the country or urgent social
emergencies resulting from disasters or liable to endanger public health, as
well as the contribution of personal work to local government agencies to
satisfy local needs.
5. The State shall care for the social security of the working people, as
specified by law.
Interpretative clause:
The general working conditions include the definition of the manner of
collection and the agent obliged to collect and return to trade unions
membership fees, specified in their respective by-laws.
Article 23
1. The State shall adopt due measures safeguarding the freedom to unionise and
the unhindered exercise of related rights against any infringement thereon
within the limits of the law.
2. Strike constitutes a right to be exercised by lawfully established trade
unions in order to protect and promote the financial and the general labour
interests of working people.
Strikes of any nature whatsoever are prohibited in the case of judicial
functionaries and those serving in the security corps. The right to strike
shall be subject to the specific limitations of the law regulating this right
in the case of public servants and employees of local government agencies and
of public law legal persons as well as in the case of the employees of all
types of enterprises of a public nature or of public benefit, the operation of
which is of vital importance in serving the basic needs of the society as a
whole. These limitations may not be carried to the point of abolishing the
right to strike or hindering the lawful exercise thereof.
Article 24
** 1. The protection of the natural and cultural environment constitutes a
duty of the State and a right of every person. The State is bound to adopt
special preventive or repressive measures for the preservation of the
environment in the context of the principle of sustainability. Matters
pertaining to the protection of forests and forest expanses in general shall
be regulated by law. The compilation of a forest register constitutes an
obligation of the State. Alteration of the use of forests and forest expanses
is prohibited, except where agricultural development or other uses imposed for
the public interest prevail for the benefit of the national economy.
** 2. The master plan of the country, and the arrangement, development,
urbanisation and expansion of towns and residential areas in general, shall be
under the regulatory authority and the control of the State, in the aim of
serving the functionality and the development of settlements and of securing
the best possible living conditions.
The relevant
technical choices and considerations are conducted according to the rules of
science. The compilation of a national cadaster constitutes an obligation of
the State.
3. For the
purpose of designating an area as residential and of activating its
urbanisation, properties included therein must participate, without
compensation from the respective agencies, in the disposal of land necessary
for the construction of roads, squares and public utility areas in general,
and contribute toward the expenses for the execution of the basic public urban
works, as specified by law.
4. The law may provide for the participation of property owners of an area
designated as residential in the development and general accommodation of that
area, on the basis of an approved town plan, in exchange for real estate or
apartments of equal value in the parts of such areas that shall finally be
designated as suitable for construction or in buildings of the same area.
5. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall also be applicable in the
rehabilitation of existing residential areas. Spaces remaining free after
rehabilitation shall be allotted to the creation of common utility areas or
shall be sold to cover expenses incurred for the rehabilitation, as specified
by law.
6. Monuments and historic areas and elements shall be under the protection of the State. A law shall provide for measures restrictive of private ownership deemed necessary for protection thereof, as well as for the manner and the kind of compensation payable to owners.
** Interpretative clause:
The term forest or forest ecosystem means the organic whole of wild plants with woody trunk on the necessary area of ground which, together with the flaura and fauna co-existing there, constitute via their mutual interdependence and interaction, a particular biocoenose (forest biocoenose) and a particular natural environment (forest-derived). A forest expanse exists when the wild woody vegetation, either high or shrubbery, is sparse.
Article 25
** 1. The rights of man as an individual and as a member of the society and
the principle of the constitutional welfare state are guaranteed by the State.
All agents of the State shall be obliged to ensure the unhindered and
effective exercise thereof. These principles also apply to relations between
private individuals to which they pertain. Restrictions of any kind which,
according to the Constitution, may be imposed upon these rights, should be
provided either directly by the Constitution or by the law, in case a
reservation exists in the latter’s favour, and should respect the principle of
proportionality.
2. The recognition and protection of the fundamental and inalienable
rights of man by the State aims at the achievement of social progress in
freedom and justice.
3. The abusive exercise of rights is not permitted.
4. The State has the right to claim of all citizens to fulfil the duty of
social and national solidarity.
PART THREE
Article 26
1. The legislative powers shall be exercised by the Parliament and the
Presidents of the Republic.
2. The executive powers shall be exercised by the President of the Republic
and the Government.
3. The judicial powers shall be exercised by courts of law, the decisions of
which shall be executed in the name of the Greek People.
Article 27
1. No change in the boundaries of the Country can be made without a statute
passed by an absolute majority of the total number of Members of Parliament.
2. Foreign military forces are not acceptable on Greek territory, nor may they
remain in or traverse it, except as provided by law passed by an absolute
majority of the total number of Members of Parliament.
Article 28
1. The generally recognised rules of international law, as well as
international conventions as of the time they are ratified by statute and
become operative according to their respective conditions, shall be an
integral part of domestic Greek law and shall prevail over any contrary
provision of the law. the rules of international law and of international
conventions shall be applicable to aliens only under the condition of
reciprocity.
2. Authorities provided by the Constitution may by treaty or agreement be
vested in agencies of international organizations, when this serves an
important national interest and promotes cooperation with other States. A
majority of three-fifths of the total number of Members of Parliament shall be
necessary to vote the law ratifying the treaty or agreement.
3. Greece shall freely proceed by law passed by an absolute majority of the
total number of Members of Parliament to limit the exercise of national
sovereignty, insofar as this is dictated by an important national interest,
does not infringe upon the rights of man and the foundations of democratic
government and is effected on the basis of the principles of equality and
under the condition of reciprocity.
** Interpretative clause:
Article 28 constitutes the foundation for the participation of the Country in the European integration process.
Article 29
1. Greek citizens possessing the right to vote may freely found and join
political parties, the organization and activity of which must serve the free
functioning of democratic government.
Citizens who have not yet acquired the right to vote may participate in youth
sections of parties.
** 2. Political parties are entitled to receive financial support by the State for their electoral and operating expenses, as specified by law. A law shall specify the guarantees of transparency concerning electoral expenses and financial management in general of political parties, Members of Parliament, parliamentary candidates and candidates for all degrees of local government. A law shall impose the maximum limit of electoral expenses, may prohibit certain types of pre-electoral promotion and shall specify the conditions under which violation of the relevant provisions constitutes grounds for forfeiture of parliamentary office on the initiative of the special organ of the following section. The audit of the electoral expenses of political parties and parliamentary candidates is carried out by a special organ which is established also with the participation of senior judicial functionaries, as specified by law. A law may also extend these regulations to candidates for other offices held through election.
** 3. Manifestations of any nature whatsoever in favour of or against a political party by judicial functionaries and by those serving in the armed forces and the security corps, are absolutely prohibited. Manifestations of any nature whatsoever in favour of or against a political party, in the exercise of their duties, by public servants, employees of local government agencies, of other legal entities of public law or of public enterprises or of enterprises of local government agencies or of enterprises whose management the State appoints by administrative act or as a shareholder, are absolutely prohibited.
SECTION II
CHAPTER ONE Election of the President
Article 30
1. The President of the Republic shall regulate the function of the
institutions of the Republic. He shall be elected by Parliament for a term of
five years, as specified in articles 32 and 33.
2. The office of the President shall be incompatible with any other office,
position or function.
3. The presidential tenure commences upon the swearing-in of the President.
4. In case of war, the presidential tenure shall be extended until termination
of the war.
5. Re-election of the same person as President is permitted only once.
** Article 31
To be eligible for election to the presidency, a person must be a Greek
citizen for at least five years, be of Greek descent from the father's or
mother’s line, have attained the age of forty and be legally entitled to vote.
Article 32
* 1. The President of the Republic shall be elected by the Parliament through
vote by roll call in a special session called for this purpose by the Speaker
at least one month before the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent
President, as specified by the Standing Orders.
In case of permanent incapacity of the President of the Republic to discharge
his duties, as specified in paragraph 2 of article 34, as well as in case of
his resignation, demise, or removal from office in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution, Parliament shall be assembled to elect a new
President within ten days at the latest from the premature termination of the
tenure of office by the previous President.
2. In all cases, the election of a President shall be made for a full term.
3. The person receiving a two-thirds majority of the total number of Members
of Parliament shall be elected President of the Republic.
Should the said majority not be attained, the ballot shall be repeated after
five days.
Should the second ballot fail to produce the required majority, the ballot
shall once more be repeated after five days; the person receiving a
three-fifths majority of the total number of Members of Parliament shall be
elected President of the Republic.
* 4. Should the third ballot fail to produce the said qualified majority,
Parliament shall be dissolved within ten days of the ballot, and elections for
a new Parliament shall be called.
As soon as the Parliament thus elected shall have constituted itself as a
body, it shall proceed through vote by roll call to elect the president of the
Republic by a three-fifths majority of the total number of Members of
Parliament.
Should the said majority not be attained, the ballot shall be repeated within
five days and the person receiving an absolute majority of the votes of the
total number of Members of Parliament shall be elected President of the
Republic. Should this majority also not be attained, the ballot shall once
more be repeated after five days between the two persons with the highest
number of votes, and the person receiving a relative majority shall be deemed
elected President of the Republic.
5. Should the Parliament be absent, a special session shall be convoked to
elect the President of the Republic, as specified in paragraph 4.
If the Parliament has been dissolved in any way whatsoever, the election of
the President of the Republic shall be postponed until the new Parliament
shall have constituted itself as a body and within twenty days at the latest
thereof, as specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 and in adherence with the
provisions of paragraph 1 of article 34.
6. Should the procedure specified under the preceding paragraphs for the
election of a new President not be completed in time, the incumbent President
of the Republic shall continue to discharge his duties even after his term of
office has expired, until a new President of the Republic is elected.
Interpretative clause:
A President of the Republic who has resigned prior to the expiration of his
tenure may not be a candidate in the elections resulting from his resignation.
Article 33
1. The President-elect shall assume the exercise of his duties on the day
following the expiration of the term of the outgoing President or, in all
other cases, on the day following his election.
2. Before assuming the exercise of his duties, the President of the republic
shall take the following oath before Parliament:
"I do swear in the name of the Holy and consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity
to safeguard the Constitution and the laws, to care for the faithful
observance thereof, to defend the national independence and territorial
integrity of the Country, to protect the rights and liberties of the Greeks
and to serve the general interest and the progress of the Greek People".
3. A statute shall provide for the civil list of the President of the Republic
and the functioning of services necessary for the discharge of his duties.
Article 34
1. Should the President of the Republic be absent abroad for more than ten
days, or be deceased or resign or be removed from office or be incapable on
any ground for the discharge of his duties, he shall be temporarily replaced
by the Speaker of the Parliament; or if there is no Parliament, by the Speaker
of the preceding Parliament and, should the latter refuse or not exist, by the
Cabinet collectively.
During the term of replacement of the President, the provisions concerning the
dissolution of Parliament, except in the case specified in article 32
paragraph 4, as well as the provisions relating to the dismissal of the
Cabinet and recourse to a referendum as specified in article 38 paragraph 2
and article 44 paragraph 2, shall not be applicable.
2. Should the incapacity of the President of the Republic to discharge his
duties be prolonged for a period exceeding thirty days, the Parliament is
mandatorily convoked even if it has been dissolved, for the purpose of
deciding, by a three-fifths majority of the total number of its members, if
the situation calls for the election of a new President. In no case however
may the election of a new President of the Republic be delayed for more than
six months from the commencement of his replacement due to his incapacity.
Article 35
* 1. No act of the President of the Republic shall be valid nor be executed
unless it has been countersigned by the competent Minister who, by his
signature alone shall be rendered responsible, and unless it has been
published in the Government Gazette.
If the Cabinet has been relieved of its duties as provided by article 38
paragraph 1, and the Prime Minister fails to counter- sign the relative
decree, this shall be signed by the President of the Republic alone.
* 2. By exception, the following acts shall not require countersignature:
a) The appointment of the Prime Minister.
b) The assignment of an exploratory mandate in accordance with article 37,
paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
c) The dissolution of the Parliament in accordance with articles 32 paragraph
4, and 41 paragraph 1, if the Prime Minister fails to countersign, and in
accordance with article 53 paragraph 1 if the Cabinet fails to countersign.
d) The return to Parliament of a voted Bill or law proposal in accordance with
article 42 paragraph 1.
e) The staff appointments to the administrative services of the Presidency of
the Republic.
* 3. The decree to proclaim a referendum on a Bill, as provided by article 44
paragraph 2, shall be countersigned by the Speaker of the Parliament.
Article 36
1. The President of the Republic, complying absolutely with the provisions of
article 35 paragraph 1, shall represent the State internationally, declare
war, conclude treaties of peace, alliance, economic cooperation and
participation in international organizations or unions and he shall announce
them to the Parliament with the necessary clarifications, whenever the
interest and the security of the State thus allow.
2. Conventions on trade, taxation, economic cooperation and participation in
international organizations or unions and all others containing concessions
for which, according to other provisions of this Constitution, no provision
can be made without a statute, or which may burden the Greeks individually,
shall not be operative without ratification by a statute voted by the
Parliament.
3. Secret articles of an agreement may in no case reverse the open ones.
4. The ratification of international treaties may not be the object of
delegation of legislative power as specified in article 43 paragraphs 2 and 4.
Article 37
1. The President of the Republic shall appoint the Prime Minister and on his
recommendation shall appoint and dismiss the other members of the Cabinet and
the Undersecretaries.
* 2. The leader of the party having the absolute majority of seats in
Parliament shall be appointed Prime Minister. If no party has the absolute
majority, the President of the Republic shall give the leader of the party
with a relative majority an exploratory mandate in order to ascertain the
possibility of forming a Government enjoying the confidence of the Parliament.
* 3. If this possibility cannot be ascertained, the President of the Republic
shall give the exploratory mandate to the leader of the second largest party
in Parliament, and if this proves to be unsuccessful, to the leader of the
third largest party in Parliament. Each exploratory mandate shall be in force
for three days. If all exploratory mandates prove to be unsuccessful, the
President of the Republic summons all party leaders, and if the impossibility
to form a Cabinet enjoying the confidence of the Parliament is confirmed, he
shall attempt to form a Cabinet composed of all parties in Parliament for the
purpose of holding parliamentary elections. If this fails, he shall entrust
the President of the Supreme Administrative Court or of the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court or of the Court of Auditors to form a Cabinet as widely
accepted as possible to carry out elections and dissolves Parliament.
* 4. In cases that a mandate to form a Cabinet or an exploratory mandate is
given in accordance with the aforementioned paragraphs, if the party has no
leader or party spokesman, or if the leader or party spokesman has not been
elected to Parliament, the President of the Republic shall give the mandate to
a person proposed by the party's parliamentary group. The proposal for the
assignment of a mandate must occur within three days of the Speaker's or his
Deputy's communication to the President of the Republic about the number of
seats possessed by each party in Parliament; the aforesaid communication must
take place before any mandate is given.
*Interpretative clause:
As far as exploratory mandates are concerned, when parties have an equal
number of seats in Parliament, the one having acquired more votes at the
elections, precedes the other. A recently formed party with a parliamentary
group, as provided by the Standing Orders of Parliament, follows an older one
with an equal number of seats. In both these instances, exploratory mandates
cannot be given to more than four parties.
Article 38
* 1. The President of the Republic shall relieve the Cabinet from its duties
if the Cabinet resigns, or if Parliament withdraws its confidence, as
specified in article 84. In such cases, the provisions of paragraphs 2, 3 and
4 of article 37 are analogously applied.
If the Prime Minister of the resigned Cabinet is also the leader or party
spokesman of the party with an absolute majority of the total number of
Members in Parliament, then the provision of article 37 paragraph 3, section c
is analogously applied.
** 2. Should the Prime Minister resign, be deceased or be unable to
discharge his duties due to reasons of health, the President of the Republic
shall appoint as Prime Minister the person proposed by the parliamentary group
of the party to which the departing Prime Minister belongs, provided that
this has the absolute majority of the seats in Parliament. The proposal is
made within three days at the latest from the resignation or demise of the
Prime Minister or from the ascertainment of his inability to discharge his
duties. In case no political party has the absolute majority of the seats in
Parliament, paragraph 4 is analogously applied, followed by the second
section of paragraph 2 and by paragraph 3 of the preceding article.
The inability of the Prime Minister to discharge his duties due to reasons of health is ascertained by the Parliament with a special decision thereof, taken with the absolute majority of the total number of Members of Parliament, following a proposal by the parliamentary group of the party to which the Prime Minister belongs, provided that this has the absolute majority of the seats in Parliament. In every other case, the proposal is submitted by at least two fifths of the total number of Members of Parliament.
Until the
appointment of the new Prime Minister, the duties of the Prime Minister are
undertaken by the first in order Deputy Prime Minister and, in case no Deputy
Prime Ministers have been appointed, by the first in order Minister.
*Interpretative clause:
The provision of paragraph 2 is also applied in the case of replacement of the
President of the Republic, as provided in article 34.
Article 39
* [Repealed by the 1986 Amendment]
Article 40
1. The President of the Republic shall convoke Parliament to a regular session
once a year as specified in article 64 paragraph 1 and to an extraordinary
session whenever he shall judge this to be reasonable, and he shall proclaim
the commencement and termination of each parliamentary term in person or
through the Prime Minister.
2. The President of the Republic may suspend a parliamentary session only
once, either by postponing its commencement or by adjourning it.
3. Suspension of a session may not be extended beyond a period of thirty days,
nor may such suspension be repeated during the same session without the
consent of Parliament itself.
Article 42
* 1. The President of the Republic shall promulgate and publish the statutes
passed by the Parliament within one month of the vote. The President of the
Republic may, within the time-limit provided for in the preceding sentence,
send back a Bill passed by Parliament, stating his reasons for this return.
* 2. A Bill sent back to Parliament by the President of the Republic shall be
introduced to the Plenum and, if it is passed again by an absolute majority of
the total number of members, following the procedure provided in article 76
paragraph 2, the President of the Republic is bound to promulgate and publish
it within ten days of the second vote.
* 3. [Paragraph 3 repealed by the 1986 Amendment].
Article 43
1. The President of the Republic shall issue the decrees necessary for the
execution of statutes; he may never suspend the application of laws nor exempt
anyone from their execution.
2. The issuance of general regulatory decrees, by virtue of special delegation
granted by statute and within the limits of such delegation, shall be
permitted on the proposal of the competent Minister. Delegation for the
purpose of issuing regulatory acts by other administrative organs shall be
permitted in cases concerning the regulation of more specific matters or
matters of local interest or of a technical and detailed nature.
* 3. [Paragraph 3 repealed by the 1986 Amendment].
4. By virtue of
statutes passed by the Plenum of the Parliament, delegation may be given for
the issuance of general regulatory decrees for the regulation of matters
specified by such statutes in a broad framework. These statutes shall set out
the general principles and directives of the regulation to be followed and
shall set time-limits within which the delegation must be used.
5. Matters which, as specified in article 72 paragraph 1, belong to the
competence of the plenary session of the Parliament, cannot be the object of
delegation as specified in the preceding paragraph.
Article 44
1. Under extraordinary circumstances of an urgent and unforeseeable need, the
President of the Republic may, upon the proposal of the Cabinet, issue acts of
legislative content. Such acts shall be submitted to Parliament for
ratification, as specified in the provisions of article 72 paragraph 1, within
forty days of their issuance or within forty days from the convocation of a
parliamentary session. Should such acts not be submitted to Parliament within
the above time-limits or if they should not be ratified by Parliament within
three months of their submission, they will henceforth cease to be in force.
* 2. The President of the Republic shall by decree proclaim a referendum on
crucial national matters following a resolution voted by an absolute majority
of the total number of Members of Parliament, taken upon proposal of the
Cabinet.
A referendum on Bills passed by Parliament regulating important social
matters, with the exception of the fiscal ones shall be proclaimed by decree
by the President of the Republic, if this is decided by three-fifths of the
total number of its members, following a proposal of two-fifths of the total
number of its members, and as the Standing Orders and the law for the
application of the present paragraph provide. No more than two proposals to
hold a referendum on a Bill can be introduced in the same parliamentary term.
Should a Bill be voted, the time-limit stated in article 42 paragraph 1 begins
the day the referendum is held.
* 3. The President of the Republic may under exceptional circumstances address
messages to the People with the consent opinion of the Prime Minister. Those
messages should be countersigned by the Prime Minister and published in the
Government Gazette.
Article 45
The President of the Republic is the commander in chief of the Nation's Armed
Forces, the command of which shall be exercised by the Government, as
specified by law. The President shall also confer ranks on those serving
therein, as specified by law.
Article 46
1. The President of the Republic shall appoint and dismiss public servants, in
accordance with the law, except in cases specified by law.
2. The President of the Republic shall confer the established decorations in
accordance with the provisions of the relevant law.
Article 47
1. The President of the Republic shall have the right, pursuant to a
recommendation by the Minister of Justice and after consulting with a council
composed in its majority of judges, to grant pardons, to commute or reduce
sentences pronounced by the courts, and to revoke all consequences at law of
sentences pronounced and served.
2. The President of
the Republic shall have the right to grant pardon to a Minister convicted as
provided in article 86, only with the consent of Parliament.
* 3. Amnesty may be granted only for political crimes, by statute passed by
the Plenum of the Parliament with a majority of three-fifths of the total
number of members.
4. Amnesty for common crimes may not be granted even by law.
Article 48
* 1. In case of war or mobilization owing to external dangers or an imminent
threat against national security, as well as in case of an armed coup aiming
to overthrow the democratic regime, the Parliament, issuing a resolution upon
a proposal of the Cabinet, puts into effect throughout the State, or in parts
there of the statute on the state of siege, establishes extraordinary courts
and suspends the force of the provisions of articles 5 paragraph 4, 6, 8, 9,
11, 12 paragraphs 1 to 4 included, 14, 19, 22 paragraph 3, 23, 96 paragraph 4,
and 97, in whole or in part. The President of the Republic publishes the
resolution of Parliament.
The resolution of Parliament determines the duration of the effect of the
imposed measures, which cannot exceed fifteen days.
* 2. If the Parliament is absent or if it is objectively impossible that it be
convoked in time, the measures mentioned in the preceding paragraph are taken
by presidential decree issued on the proposal of the Cabinet. The Cabinet
shall submit the decree to Parliament for approval as soon as its convocation
is rendered possible, even when its term has ended or it has been dissolved,
and in any case no later than fifteen days.
* 3. The duration of the measures mentioned in the preceding paragraphs may be
extended every fifteen days, only upon resolution passed by the Parliament
which must be convoked regardless of whether its term has ended or whether it
has been dissolved.
* 4. The measures specified in the preceding paragraphs are lifted ipso jure
with the expiration of the time-limits specified in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3,
provided that they are not extended by a resolution of Parliament, and in any
case with the termination of war if this was the reason of their imposition.
* 5. From the time that the measures referred to in the previous paragraphs
come into effect, the President of the Republic may, following a proposal of
the Cabinet, issue acts of legislative content to meet emergencies, or to
restore as soon as possible the functioning of the constitutional
institutions. Those acts shall be submitted to Parliament for ratification
within fifteen days of their issuance or of the convocation of Parliament in
session. Should they not be submitted to Parliament within the above-mentioned
time-limit, or not be approved by it within fifteen days of their submission,
they cease henceforth to be in force. The statute on the state of siege may
not be amended during its enforcement.
* 6. The resolutions of Parliament referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be
adopted by a majority of the total number of members, and the resolution
mentioned in paragraph 1 by a three-fifths majority of the total number of
members. Parliament must decide these matters in only one sitting.
* 7. Throughout the duration of the application of the measures of the state of emergency taken in accordance with the present article, the provisions of articles 61 and 62 of the Constitution shall apply ipso jure regardless of whether Parliament has been dissolved or its term has ended.
Article 49
1. The President of the Republic shall in no case be held liable for acts
performed in the discharge of his duties, except only for high treason or
intentional violation of the Constitution. For acts not related to the
discharge of his duties, prosecution shall be suspended until the expiration
of the presidential term.
2. A proposal to bring charges against and impeach the President of the
Republic shall be submitted to Parliament signed by at least one-third of its
members and shall require for its adoption a resolution by two-thirds majority
of the total number of its members.
3. If the proposal is adopted, the President of the Republic shall be
arraigned before the court specified in article 86, the provisions of which
shall be accordingly applicable in this case.
4. As of his arraignment, the President of the Republic shall abstain from the
discharge of his duties, and shall be replaced as specified in article 34. He
shall resume his duties if his term has not expired, as of the issuance of his
acquittal by the court specified in article 86.
5. The implementation of the provisions of the present article shall be
provided by law enacted by the Parliament in a plenary session.
Article 50
The President of the Republic shall have no powers other than those explicitly
conferred upon him by the Constitution and the laws concurrent herewith.
Article 51
1. The number of the Members of Parliament shall be specified by statute; it
cannot, however, be below two hundred or over three hundred.
2. The Members of Parliament represent the Nation.
3. The Members of Parliament shall be elected through direct, universal and
secret ballot by the citizens who have the right to vote, as specified by law.
The law cannot abridge the right to vote except in cases where a minimum age
has not been attained or in cases of legal incapacity or as a result of
irrevocable criminal conviction for certain felonies.
** 4. Parliamentary elections shall be held simultaneously throughout the
State. Matters pertaining to the exercise of the right to vote by persons
living outside the Country may be specified by law, adopted by a majority of
two thirds of the total number of Members of Parliament. Concerning such
persons, the principle of simultaneously holding elections does not impede the
exercise of their right to vote by postal vote or by other appropriate means,
provided that the counting of votes and the announcement of the results is
carried out when this is also carried out across the Country.
** 5. The exercise of the right to vote shall be compulsory.
Article 52
The free and unfalsified expression of the popular will as an expression of
popular sovereignty, shall be guaranteed by all State officers who shall be
obliged to ensure such under all circum- stances. Criminal sanctions for
violations of this provision shall be specified by law.
Article 53
1. The Members of Parliament shall be elected for a term of four consecutive
years, commencing on the day of the general elections. Upon expiration of the
parliamentary term, there shall be proclaimed by presidential decree
countersigned by the Cabinet, general parliamentary elections to be held
within thirty days and the convocation of the new Parliament in regular
session within another thirty days.
2. A parliamentary seat that has become vacant during the last year of a
parliamentary term shall not be filled by a by-election, where such is
required by law, as long as the number of vacant seats does not exceed
one-fifth of the total number of the Members of Parliament.
3. In case of war, the parliamentary term shall be extended for the entire
duration thereof. If Parliament has been dissolved, elections shall be
postponed until the termination of the war and the Parliament dissolved shall
be recalled ipso jure until that time.
Article 54
** 1. The electoral system and electoral districts shall be specified by
law which applies as of the elections immediately after the following ones,
unless an explicit provision adopted by a majority of two thirds of the total
number of Members of Parliament, provides its immediate application as of the
elections immediately following.
** 2. The number of Members of Parliament elected in each electoral district shall be specified by presidential decree on the basis of the legal population thereof, deriving, according to the latest census, from the persons registered in the relevant municipal rolls, as specified by law.
The results of the
census are considered to have been published on the basis of the data of the
competent service, after one year has elapsed from the last day on which the
census was conducted.
3. Part of the Parliament, comprising not more than the one twentieth of the
total number of its members, may be elected throughout the Country at large in
proportion to the total electoral strength of each party throughout the
Country, as specified by law.
Article 55
1. To be elected as Member of Parliament, one must be a Greek citizen, have
the legal capacity to vote and have attained the age of twenty-five years on
the day of the election.
2. A Member of Parliament deprived of any of the above qualifications shall
forfeit his parliamentary office ipso jure.
Article 56
** 1. Salaried civil functionaries and servants, other employees of the
Public Sector, persons serving in the armed forces and the security corps,
employees of local government agencies or of other legal entities of public
law, elected single-member organs of local government agencies, governors,
deputy governors or chairmen of the boards of directors or managing or
executive directors of legal entities of public law or of state legal entities
of private law or of public enterprises or of enterprises whose management the
State appoints directly or indirectly by administrative act or as shareholder,
or of local government enterprises, may neither stand for election nor be
elected to Parliament if they have not resigned prior to their nomination.
Such resignations shall be valid upon written submission thereof only.
Military officers who have resigned may under no circumstances return to
active service. Senior elected single-person organs of local government
agencies of the second degree may not stand for election nor be elected to
Parliament during the tenure for which they have been elected, even if they
resign.
2. Professors of
institutions of university level are exempt from the restrictions of the
preceding paragraph. The exercise of the duties of professor shall be
suspended for the duration of the parliamentary term and the manner of
replacement of professors elected to Parliament shall be specified by law.
** 3. The following persons may not stand for election nor be elected to
Parliament in the electoral district where they served or in any electoral
district to which their local authority was extending during the last eighteen
months of the four-year parliamentary term:
a) Governors, deputy governors, chairmen of the boards of directors, managing and executive directors of legal entities of public law, with the exception of associations, of state legal entities of private law and of public enterprises or of enterprises whose management the State appoints directly or indirectly by administrative act or as shareholder.
b) Members of independent authorities which are established and operate pursuant to article 101A, as well as of the authorities designated by law as independent or regulatory.
c) Senior and top-ranking officers of the armed forces and the security corps.
d) Salaried employees of the Public Sector, of local government agencies or of enterprises thereof, as well as of the legal entities and enterprises under case (a) who were holding a position of head of unit at the level of department or another corresponding position, as specifically provided by law. Employees mentioned in the preceding section and having wider local authority are subject to the restrictions of this paragraph concerning electoral districts other than those of their seat, only in case they were holding a position of head of unit at the level of general directorate or other corresponding position, as specifically provided by law.
e) Secretaries general or special of ministries or of autonomous secretariats general or regional administrations and all persons that the law puts in the same category as these.
Persons
nominated as State Deputies shall not be subject to the restrictions of this
paragraph.
4. Civil
servants and the military in general, having undertaken the obligation by law
to remain in service for a certain period of time, may not stand for election
nor be elected to Parliament during the period of such obligation.
** Article 57
1. The duties of Member of Parliament shall be incompatible with the duties
or the capacity of owner or partner or shareholder or governor or
administrator or member of the board of directors or general manager or of
their deputies, of an enterprise that:
a) Undertakes Public works or studies or supplies or the provision of services to the Public Sector or concludes with the Public Sector similar contracts of a development or investment nature.
b) Enjoys special privileges.
c) Owns or manages a radio or television station or publishes a newspaper of country-wide circulation in Greece.
d) Exercises through concession public service or public enterprise or public utility enterprise.
e) Rents for commercial purposes real estate owned by the State.
For the purposes of applying this paragraph, local government agencies, other legal entities of public law, state legal entities of private law, public enterprises, enterprises of local government agencies and other enterprises whose management the State appoints directly or indirectly by administrative act or as shareholder, are put in the same category as the Public Sector. Shareholders of an enterprise falling within the restrictions of this paragraph are all persons possessing a percentage of more than one percent of the share capital.
The duties of Member of Parliament are also incompatible with the exercise of any profession. Activities compatible with parliamentary office, as well as matters relating to insurance and pension issues and to the manner in which Members of Parliament return to their profession after loss of the capacity of Member of Parliament, shall be specified by law.
Under no circumstances may the activities of the previous section include the capacity of employee or legal or other advisor of enterprises under cases (a) to (d) of this paragraph.
Violation of the provisions of the present paragraph shall result in forfeiture from parliamentary office and shall render the related acts null and void, as specified by law.
1.
Members of Parliament falling within the provisions of the first
section of the preceding paragraph must, within eight days of the day on which
their election becomes final, state their choice between their parliamentary
office and the above stated duties or capacities. Failing to make the said
statement within the set limit, they shall forfeit their parliamentary office
ipso jure.
3. Members of Parliament who accept any of the capacities or duties mentioned
in this or in the preceding article and designated as impediments for
parliamentary candidature or as incompatible with parliamentary office, shall
forfeit that office ipso jure.
4. The manner of continuation or transfer or dissolution of contracts
mentioned in paragraph 1 and undertaken by a Member of Parliament or by an
enterprise to which he participated before his election, or undertaken in a
capacity incompatible with his office, shall be specified by law.
Article 58
The hearing of objections raised against the validity of parliamentary
elections and their verification concerning either electoral violations
related to the conduct of the elections, or the lack of legal qualifications,
is assigned to the Supreme Special Court of article 100.
Article 59
1. Before undertaking the discharge of their duties, Members of Parliament
shall take the following oath in the Chamber and in a public sitting.
"I swear in the name of the Holy Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity to
keep faith in my Country and in the democratic form of government, obedience
to the Constitution and the laws and to discharge conscientiously my duties".
2. Members of Parliament who are of a different religion or creed shall take
the same oath according to the form of their own religion or creed.
3. Members of Parliament proclaimed elected in the absence of Parliament shall
take the oath in the Section in session.
Article 60
1. Members of Parliament enjoy unrestricted freedom of opinion and right to
vote according to their conscience.
2. The resignation from parliamentary office is a right of the Member of
Parliament and is effectuated as soon as the Member of Parliament submits a
written declaration to the Speaker of the Parliament; this declaration is
irrevocable.
Article 61
1. A Member of Parliament shall not be prosecuted or in any way interrogated
for an opinion expressed or a vote cast by him in the discharge of his
parliamentary duties.
2. A Member of Parliament may be prosecuted only for libel, according to the
law, after leave has been granted by Parliament. The Court of Appeals shall be
competent to hear the case. Such leave is deemed to be conclusively denied if
Parliament does not decide within forty-five days from the date the charges
have been submitted to the Speaker. In case of refusal to grant leave or if
the time-limit lapses without action, no charge can be brought for the act
committed by the Member of Parliament.
This paragraph shall be applicable as of the next parliamentary session.
3. A Member of Parliament shall not be liable to testify on information given
to him or supplied by him in the course of the discharge of his duties, or on
the persons who entrusted the information to him or to whom he supplied such
information.
Article 62
During the parliamentary term the Members of Parliament shall not be
prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned or otherwise confined without prior leave
granted by Parliament. Likewise, a member of a dissolved Parliament shall not
be prosecuted for political crimes during the period between the dissolution
of Parliament and the declaration of the election of the members of the new
Parliament. Leave shall be deemed not granted if Parliament does not decide
within three months of the date the request for prosecution by the public
prosecutor was transmitted to the Speaker.
The three month limit is suspended during the Parliament's recess.
No leave is required when Members of Parliament are caught in the act of
committing a felony.
Article 63
1. For the discharge of their duties, Members of Parliament shall be entitled
to receive compensation and expenses from the State; the amount of both shall
be determined by the Plenum of the Parliament.
2. Members of Parliament shall enjoy exemption from transportation, postal and
telephone charges, the extent of which shall be determined by decision of the
Parliament in plenary session.
3. In case of unjustified absence of a member for more than five sittings per
month, one-thirtieth of his monthly compensation shall be withheld for each
absence.
Article 64
1. The Parliament shall convene, ipso jure, on the first Monday of the month
of October of each year in a regular session to conduct its annual business,
unless convoked at an earlier date by the President of the Republic, in
accordance with Article 40.
2. The duration of a regular session shall not be shorter than five months,
not including the time of suspension specified in Article 40.
A regular session is compulsorily extended until the budget is authorized in
accordance with article 79 or until the special law provided in the same
article is passed.
Article 65
1. Parliament shall determine the manner of its free and democratic operation
by adopting its own Standing Orders; these shall be adopted by the Plenum as
specified in Article 76 and shall be published in the Government Gazette on
the order of the Speaker.
2. Parliament shall elect from among its members the Speaker and the other
members of the Presidium as provided by the Standing Orders.
3. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers shall be elected at the beginning of each
parliamentary term.
This provision shall not apply to the Speaker and Deputy Speakers elected by
the first session of the Fifth Revisionary Parliament.
On a recommendation by fifty Members the Parliament may reprimand the Speaker
or a member of the Presidium thus causing the termination of his tenure.
4. The Speaker directs the business of Parliament; he cares to ensure the
unhindered conduct of the business, safeguards the freedom of opinion and
expression of the Members of Parliament and the maintenance of order. He is
entitled to resort even to disciplinary measures against a member misbehaving
as specified by the Standing Orders.
5. A scientific research service to the Parliament may be established through
the Standing Orders to assist Parliament in its legislative work.
6. The Standing Orders shall determine the organization of the services of the
Parliament under the supervision of the Speaker; all matters concerning its
personnel shall likewise be regulated. Acts of the Speaker concerning the
appointment and the professional status of the personnel of the Parliament
shall be subject to recourse on points of act and points of law or petition
for annulment lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court.
Article 66
1. The Parliament shall hold public sittings in the Chamber; however, upon the
Government's petition or upon the petition of fifteen Members of Parliament
and pursuant to a majority decision reached in a closed meeting, the
Parliament may deliberate behind closed doors. Thereafter Parliament shall
resolve whether the debate on the same subject shall be repeated in an open
sitting.
2. Ministers and Undersecretaries shall be free to attend the sittings of
Parliament and shall be heard whenever they request the floor.
** 3. The Parliament and parliamentary committees may request Ministers or
Undersecretaries to be present when discussing matters for which they are
competent.
Parliamentary committees may invite any person they consider useful in
carrying out their work, informing the competent Minister of this.
Parliamentary committees convene in open sittings, as specified by the
Standing Orders; however, they may deliberate behind closed doors, following a
request by the Government or by five Members of Parliament, if the majority so
decides in a session behind closed doors. The parliamentary committee then
decides whether the discussion on the same subject should be held again in an
open sitting.
Article 67
Parliament cannot resolve without an absolute majority of the members present,
which in no case may be less than one-fourth of the total number of the
Members of Parliament.
In the case of a tie vote, the vote shall be repeated; in the case of a second
tie the proposal shall be rejected.
Article 68
** 1. At the beginning of each regular session, Parliament shall set up
standing parliamentary committees composed of Members of Parliament for the
examination and processing of Bills and law proposals submitted, as specified
by the Standing Orders of the Parliament.
2. Parliament
shall set up investigation committees from among its members by a resolution
supported by two-fifths of the total number of members, on the proposal of
one-fifth of the total number of members.
A parliamentary resolution adopted by an absolute majority of the total number
of members shall be required in order to set up investigation committees on
matters related to foreign policy and national defence.
Details pertaining to the composition and operation of such committees shall
be provided by the Standing Orders.
3. Parliamentary and investigation committees, as well as Sections of
Parliament specified in articles 70 and 71 shall be established in proportion
to the strength of parties, groups and independents, as specified by the
Standing Orders.
Article 69
No person shall appear at his own initiative before the Parliament to make an
oral or written report. Reports shall be presented through a member or shall
be handed over to the Speaker. Parliament shall have the right to forward any
reports addressed thereto to the Ministers and Undersecretaries who shall be
obliged to offer explanations when so requested.
Article 70
1. The Parliament shall conduct its legislative business in Plenum.
** 2. The Standing Orders of the Parliament shall provide for the exercise
of the legislative work specified therein to be also conducted by the standing
parliamentary committees which are established and function during the
session, as specified by the Standing Orders and subject to the restrictions
of article 72.
** 3. The Standing Orders of Parliament shall likewise determine the allocation of competences by Ministries among the standing parliamentary committees.
** 4. Unless
otherwise stated, the provisions of the Constitution concerning the Parliament
shall apply to its functioning in Plenum and in Section pursuant to article
71, as well as for the functioning of the parliamentary committees.
** 5. In order for the Section pursuant to article 71 and for the standing
parliamentary committees, in the context of exercising their legislative work
in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article, to adopt a resolution,
a majority of no less than two fifths of the number of their members is
required.
** 6. Parliamentary control shall be exercised by the Plenum, as specified by the Standing Orders. The Standing Orders may provide the exercise of parliamentary control also by the Section pursuant article 71, as well as by the standing parliamentary committees established and functioning during the session.
** 7. The Standing Orders shall specify the manner in which Members of Parliament who are on a Parliament or Government mission abroad shall participate in votes.
** 8. The Standing Orders of Parliament shall specify the manner in which the Government informs Parliament of the issues constituting the object of regulatory acts in the framework of the European Union, and holds discussions on these.
Article 71
When Parliament is in recess, its legislative business, with the exception of
statutes belonging to the competence of the Plenum as specified in article 72,
shall be conducted by a Section of Parliament, established and operating as
specified in article 68 paragraph 3 and article 70.
The Standing Orders may provide for the examination of Bills by a
Parliamentary Committee composed of members of the same Section.
** Article 72
1. Parliament debates and votes in Plenum on its Standing Orders, on Bills
and law proposals on the subjects of articles 3, 13, 27, 28 paragraphs 2 and
3, 29 paragraph 2, 33 paragraph 3, 48, 51, 54, 86, on Bills and proposals for
laws implementing the Constitution on the exercise and protection of
individual rights, on Bills and law proposals on the authentic interpretation
of the laws as well as on every other matter referred to Parliament in Plenum
by special provision of the Constitution or for the regulation of which a
special majority is required.
The Parliament in Plenum shall also authorize the budget and the financial
statement of the State and of Parliament.
2. Debates and votes on all other Bills or law proposals may be carried out
during the session by the competent standing parliamentary committee, pursuant
to the provisions of article 70. They are also carried out by the Section
established and functioning pursuant to article 71 during the period in which
Parliament is in recess, as specified by the Standing Orders.
3. The standing parliamentary committee assuming the voting of a Bill or law proposal may, by resolution adopted by the absolute majority of its members, refer any dispute over its competence to the Plenum. The resolution of the Plenum shall be binding for the committees.
At least one week must intervene between submission of a Bill or law proposal and its debate in the standing parliamentary committee.
4. A Bill or law proposal debated and voted in the competent standing parliamentary committee is introduced in the Plenum in one session, as specified by the Standing Orders of the Parliament, and is debated and voted in principle, by article and as a whole. A Bill or law proposal voted in the committee by a majority of at least four fifths is debated and voted in the Plenum, as specified by the Standing Orders.
Article 73
1. The right to introduce Bills belongs to the Parliament and the Government.
2. Bills pertaining in any way to the granting of a pension and the
prerequisites thereof shall be introduced only by the Minister of Finance
after an opinion of the Court of Auditors; in the case of pensions burdening
on the budget of local government agencies or other public law legal persons,
Bills shall be submitted by the competent Minister and the Minister of
Finance. Pensions must be proposed by means of special Bills; the insertion of
provisions pertaining to pensions, in Bills introduced in order to regulate
other matters, is not permitted under penalty of nullity.
3. No Bill or amendment or addition which originated in Parliament shall be
introduced for debate if it results in an expenditure or a reduction of
revenues or assets for the State or local government agencies or other public
law legal persons, for the purpose of paying a salary or pension or otherwise
benefiting a person.
4. However, an amendment or addition introduced by a party leader or a
spokesman of a parliamentary group as specified in article 74 paragraph 3
shall be acceptable in the case of Bills concerning the organization of public
services and agencies of public interest, the status of public servants in
general, military and security corps officers, employees of local government
agencies or other public law legal persons and public enterprises in general.
5. Bills introducing local or special taxes or charges of any nature on behalf
of agencies or public or private law legal persons must be countersigned by
the Minister of Coordination and the Minister of Finance.
Article 74
1. Every Bill must be accompanied by an explanatory report; before it is
introduced to the Plenum or to a Section of Parliament, it may be referred,
for legislative elaboration, to the service defined in article 65 paragraph 5
as soon as this service is established, as specified by the Standing Orders.
2. Bills tabled in Parliament shall be referred to the appropriate
Parliamentary Committee. When the report has been submitted or when the
time-limit for its submittal has elapsed inactively, the Bill shall be
introduced for debate to Parliament after three days, unless it has been
designated as urgent by the competent Minister. The debate shall begin
following an oral introduction by the competent Minister and the rapporteurs
of the committee.
3. Amendments submitted by Members of Parliament, to Bills for which the
Plenum or the Sections of Parliament are competent, shall not be introduced
for debate if they have not been submitted up to and including the day prior
to the commencement of the debate, unless the Government consents to such a
debate.
4. A Bill for the amendment of a provision of a statute shall not be
introduced for debate if the accompanying explanatory report does not contain
the full text of the provision to be amended and if the text of the Bill does
not contain the full text of the new provision as amended.
** 5. The provisions of paragraph 1 also apply for Bills or law proposals
introduced for debate and vote in the competent standing parliamentary
committee, as specified by the Standing Orders of Parliament.
A Bill or law proposal containing provisions not related to its main subject matter shall not be introduced for debate.
No addition or
amendment shall be introduced for debate if it is not related to the main
subject matter of the Bill or law proposal.
Additions or amendments by Ministers are debated only if they have been
submitted at least three days prior to the commencement of the debate in the
Plenum, to the Section pursuant to article 71 or to the competent standing
parliamentary committee, as specified by the Standing Orders.
The provisions of the two preceding sections shall also apply for additions or amendments by Members of Parliament.
Parliament shall resolve in case of contestation.
Members of
Parliament not participating in the competent standing parliamentary committee
or to the Section pursuant to article 71, are entitled to take the floor
during the debate in principle in order to support law proposals and additions
or amendments that they have submitted, as specified by the Standing Orders.
6. Once
every month, on a day designated by the Standing Orders, pending private
Members' Bills shall be entered by priority in the order of the day and
debated.
Article 75
1. Any Bill which results in burdening the Budget, if submitted by Ministers,
shall not be introduced for debate unless it is accompanied by a report of the
General Accounting Office specifying the amount of the expenditure involved;
if submitted by Members of Parliament, prior to any debate thereon it shall be
forwarded to the General Accounting Office which shall be bound to submit a
report within fifteen days. Should this time-limit elapse without action, the
private Member's Bill shall be introduced for debate without it.
2. The same shall apply for amendments, if so requested by the competent
Ministers. In this case, the General Accounting Office shall be bound to
submit its report to Parliament within three days; only if the report shall
not be forthcoming within this time-limit may the amendment be debated without
it.
3. A Government's Bill resulting in an expenditure or a reduction of revenues
shall not be introduced for debate unless it is accompanied by a special
report specifying the manner in which they will be covered, signed by the
competent Minister and the Minister of Finance.
Article 76
** 1. Every Bill and every law proposal shall be debated and voted on once
in principle, by article and as a whole, with the exception of the cases
provided under paragraph 4 of article 72.
** 2. Voted Bills or law proposals that are referred pursuant to article 42
shall be debated and voted on by the Plenum of Parliament twice and in two
distinct sittings, at least two days apart, in principle and by article during
the first debate, and by article and as a whole during the second.
** 3. If in the
course of the debate, additions or amendments have been accepted, voting on
the Bill as a whole shall be postponed for twenty-four hours from the time the
amended Bill or law proposal was distributed, with the exception of the cases
provided under paragraph 4 of article 72.
** 4. A Bill or law proposal designated by the Government as very urgent shall
be introduced for voting after a limited debate in one sitting, by the Plenum
or by the Section pursuant to article 71, as specified by the Standing Orders
of Parliament.
** 5. The
Government may request that a Bill or law proposal of an urgent nature be
debated in a specific number of sittings, as specified by the Standing Orders
of Parliament.
6. Judicial
or administrative codes drafted by special committees established under
special statutes may be voted through in the Plenum of the Parliament by a
special statute ratifying the code as a whole.
7. Likewise, legislative provisions in force may be codified by simple
classification, or repealed statutes may be re-enacted as a whole, with the
exception of statutes concerning taxation.
Article 77
1. The authentic interpretation of the statutes shall rest with the
legislative power.
2. A statute which is not truly interpretative shall enter into force only as
of its publication.
Article 78
1. No tax shall be levied without a statute enacted by Parliament, specifying
the subject of taxation and the income, the type of property, the expenses and
the transactions or categories thereof to which the tax pertains.
2. A tax or any other financial charge may not be imposed by a retroactive
statute effective prior to the fiscal year preceding the imposition of the
tax.
3. Exceptionally, in the case of imposition or increase of an import or export
duty or a consumer tax, collection thereof shall be permitted as of the date
on which the Bill shall be tabled in Parliament, on condition that the statute
shall be published within the time-limit specified in article 42 paragraph 1,
and in any case not later than ten days from the end of the Parliamentary
session.
4. The object of taxation, the tax rate, the tax abatements and exemptions and
the granting of pensions may not be subject to legislative delegation.
This prohibition does not preclude the determination by law of the manner of
assessing the share of the State or public agencies in general in the
automatic increase on value of private real estate property adjoining the site
of construction of public works and resulting exclusively therefrom.
5. It shall, exceptionally, be permitted to impose by means of delegation
granted in framework by statute, balancing or counteractive charges or duties,
and to impose, within the framework of the country's international relations
to economic organizations, economic measures or measures concerning the
safeguarding of the country's foreign exchange position.
Article 79
1. In the course of its ordinary annual session Parliament shall vote on the
State budget of revenues and expenditures for the following year.
2. All State revenues and expenditures must be entered in the annual budget
and financial statement.
** 3. The draft budget shall be submitted by the Minister of Finance to the
competent standing parliamentary committee on the first Monday of October and
shall be debated, as specified by the Standing Orders. Taking also into
account the remarks of the committee, the Minister of Finance shall introduce
the budget to the Parliament at least forty days before the beginning of the
fiscal year. The budget shall be debated and voted by the Plenum in accordance
with the provisions of the Standing Orders, which shall also ensure the right
of all political sections in Parliament to express their views.
4. Should the administration of revenues and expenditures as provided in
the budget be inoperative for any reason whatsoever, they shall be
administered in accordance with a special statute to be enacted every time.
5. Should it be impossible to vote the budget or to pass the special statute
defined in the preceding paragraph due to the end of the Parliamentary term,
the force of the budget for the fiscal year just ended or ending shall be
extended for four months by decree issued upon proposal of the Cabinet.
6. The practice of drafting budgets for bi-annual fiscal periods may be
established by statute.
** 7. The financial statement and general balance sheet of the State shall
be laid before Parliament not later than one year from the end of each fiscal
year; these are accompanied without fail by the report of the Court of
Auditors provided by article 98 paragraph 1 case (e), are examined by a
special committee of Members of Parliament and are sanctioned by the Plenum of
Parliament, in accordance with the provisions of the Standing Orders.
8. Economic and social development plans shall be approved by the Plenum of the Parliament as specified by statute.
Article 80
1. No salary, pension, subsidy or remuneration shall be entered in the State
budget or granted, unless it is provided for by statute concerning the
organization or other special statute.
2. The minting or issuing of currency shall be regulated by law.
** Interpretative clause:
Paragraph 2 does not impede the participation of Greece in the process for European economic and monetary unification, in the wider context of European integration, in accordance with the provisions of article 28.
Article 81
1. The Cabinet, which shall be composed of the Prime Minister and the
Ministers, constitutes the Government. The composition and functioning of the
Cabinet shall be specified by law. One or more Ministers may be appointed Vice
Presidents of the Cabinet, by decree initiated by the Prime Minister. A
statute shall regulate the status of Alternate Ministers, Ministers without
portfolio and Undersecretaries who may be members of the Government, as well
as the status of permanent Undersecretaries.
2. No person may be appointed a member of the Government or an Undersecretary
if he does not possess the qualifications required in Article 55 for Members
of Parliament.
3. Any professional activity whatsoever of members of the Government,
Undersecretaries and the Speaker of Parliament shall be in abeyance during the
discharge of their duties.
4. The incompatibility of the office of Minister and Undersecretary with other
activities may be established by statute.
5. In the absence of a Vice President, the Prime Minister shall appoint,
whenever the need arises, one of the Ministers as his provisional Deputy.
Article 82
1. The Government shall define and direct the general policy of the Country,
in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the laws.
2. The Prime Minister shall safeguard the unity of the Government and shall
direct the actions of the Government and of the public services in general,
for the implementation of Government policy within the framework of the laws.
** 3. Matters relating to the establishment, operation and competences of the Economic and Social Committee, the mission of which is the conduct of social dialogue for the overall policy of the Country and especially for the orientations of the economic and social policy, as well as the formulation of opinions on Bills and law proposals referred to it, shall be specified by law.
** 4. Matters relating to the establishment, operation and competences of the National Foreign Policy Council, with the participation of delegates of parties in Parliament and of persons possessing specialised knowledge or experience, shall be specified by law.
Article 83
1. Each Minister shall exercise the powers defined by law. Ministers without
portfolio shall exercise the powers vested in them by decision of the Prime
Minister.
2. Undersecretaries shall exercise the powers vested in them by joint decision
of the Prime Minister and the competent Minister.
Article 84
1. The Government must enjoy the confidence of Parliament. The Government
shall be obliged to request a vote of confidence by Parliament within fifteen
days of the date the Prime Minister shall have been sworn in, and may also do
so at any other time. If at the time the Government is formed, Parliament has
suspended its works, it shall be convoked within fifteen days to resolve on
the motion of confidence.
2. Parliament may decide to withdraw its confidence from the Government or
from a member of the Government. A motion of censure may not be submitted
before the lapse of six months from the rejection by Parliament of such a
motion.
A motion of censure must be signed by at least one-sixth of the number of
Members of Parliament and must explicitly state the subjects on which the
debate is to be held.
3. A motion of censure may, exceptionally, be submitted before the lapse of
six months, if it is signed by the majority of the total number of Members of
Parliament.
4. The debate on a motion of confidence or censure shall commence two days
after the motion is submitted, unless, in the case of a motion of censure, the
Government requests its immediate commencement; in all cases the debate may
not be prolonged for more than three days from its commencement.
5. The vote on a motion of confidence or censure is held immediately after the
termination of the debate; it may, however, be postponed for forty-eight hours
if the Government so requests.
6. A motion of confidence cannot be adopted unless it is approved by an
absolute majority of the present Members of Parliament, which however cannot
be less than the two-fifths of the total number of the members.
A motion of censure shall be adopted only if it is approved by an absolute
majority of the total number of Members of Parliament.
7. Ministers and Undersecretaries who are Members of Parliament shall vote on
the above motions.
Article 85
The members of the Cabinet and the Undersecretaries shall be collectively
responsible for general Government policy, and each of them severally for the
actions or omissions within his powers, according to the provisions of
statutes on the liability of Ministers. A written or oral order of the
President of the Republic may in no case whatsoever relieve Ministers and
Undersecretaries of their liability.
** Article 86
1. Only the Parliament has the power to take legal action against serving
or former members of the Cabinet or Undersecretaries for criminal offences
that they committed during the discharge of their duties, as specified by law.
The institution of statutory ministerial offences is prohibited.
2. Prosecution,
judicial inquiry, preliminary judicial inquiry or preliminary examination
against the persons and offences specified in paragraph 1 shall not be
permitted without a prior resolution of Parliament, in accordance with
paragraph 3.
If in the course of another judicial inquiry, preliminary judicial inquiry,
preliminary examination or administrative inquiry evidence should arise which
relates to the persons and offences of the preceding paragraph, these shall be
promptly forwarded to Parliament by the person conducting the judicial
inquiry, preliminary judicial inquiry or examination.
3. A motion for taking legal action is submitted by at least thirty Members of Parliament. The Parliament, by a resolution taken with the absolute majority of the total number of its Members, establishes a special parliamentary committee for conducting a preliminary examination, otherwise the motion is rejected as manifestly groundless. The findings of the committee of the preceding section are introduced to the Plenum of Parliament, which resolves on whether legal action shall be taken or not. The relevant resolution is taken with the absolute majority of the total number of Members of Parliament.
The Parliament may exercise its competence pursuant to paragraph 1 until completion of the second regular session of the parliamentary term commencing after the offence was committed.
The Parliament may at any time revoke its resolution or suspend the legal action, preliminary proceedings or main proceedings, by the procedure and majority of the first section of this paragraph.
4. The competence for trying the relevant cases, in the first and last instance, lies with the Special Court, as highest in rank court; this is composed for each case by six members of the Supreme Administrative Court and seven members of the Supreme Court. The regular and deputy members of the Special Court are chosen by lot, after the legal action has been taken, by the Speaker of the Parliament in a public sitting of the Parliament, from among the members of these two high ranking courts, appointment or promotion of which to the rank they hold has taken place prior to the submission of the motion for taking legal action. The Special Court is chaired by the highest ranking of the Supreme Court members chosen by lot and, in the case of persons of equal rank, by the most senior between them.
A Judicial Council, composed for each case by two members of the Supreme Administrative Court and three members of the Supreme Court, functions in the framework of the Special Court of this paragraph. The members of the Judicial Council may not also be members of the Special Court. By decision of the Judicial Council, one of its members belonging to the Supreme Court is appointed as examining magistrate. The preliminary proceedings are concluded with the issue of an order.
The duties of public prosecutor in the Special Court and in the Judicial Council of this paragraph are exercised by a member of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court who is chosen by lot together with his deputy. The second and third sections of this paragraph also apply for the members of the Judicial Council, while the second section also applies for the public prosecutor.
In the case of impeachment before the Special Court of a serving or former member of the Cabinet or Undersecretary, any participants are also jointly indicted, as specified by law.
5. Should the procedure concerning legal action against a serving or former member of the Cabinet or Undersecretary not reach completion for any other reason whatsoever, including the statute of limitations, the Parliament may, at the request of the person itself or of its heirs, establish a special committee for investigating the charges in which highest judicial functionaries may also participate.
Article 87
1. Justice shall be administered by courts composed of regular judges who
shall enjoy functional and personal independence.
2. In the discharge of their duties, judges shall be subject only to the
Constitution and the laws; in no case whatsoever shall they be obliged to
comply with provisions enacted in violation of the Constitution.
3. Regular judges shall be inspected by judges of a superior rank, as well as
by the Public Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court; Public Prosecutors shall be inspected by the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court judges and Public Prosecutors of a superior rank, as specified
by law.
Article 88
1. Judicial functionaries shall be appointed by presidential decree in
compliance with a law specifying the qualifications and the procedure for
their selection and are appointed for life.
** 2. The remuneration of judicial functionaries shall be commensurate with
their office. Matters concerning their rank, remuneration and their general
status shall be regulated by special statutes.
Notwithstanding
articles 94, 95 and 98, disputes concerning all kinds of remunerations and
pensions of judicial functionaries and provided that the resolution of the
relevant legal issues may affect the salary, pension or fiscal status of a
wider circle of persons, shall be tried by the special court of article 99. In
such cases, the composition of the court includes the participation of one
additional full professor and one additional barrister, as specified by law.
Matters relating to the continuation of pending processes before the courts
shall be specified by law.
3. A
training and trial period for judicial functionaries of up to three years
prior to their appointment as regular judges may be provided for by law.
During this period they may also act as regular judges, as specified by law.
4. Judicial functionaries may be dismissed only pursuant a court judgment
resulting from a criminal conviction or a grave disciplinary breach or illness
or disability or professional incompetence, confirmed as specified by law and
in compliance with the provisions of article 93 paragraphs 2 and 3.
5. Retirement from the service of the judiciary shall be compulsory upon
attainment of the age of sixty five years for all functionaries up to and
including the rank of Court of Appeal judge or Deputy Prosecutor of the Court
of Appeals, or a rank corresponding thereto. In the case of judicial
functionaries of a rank higher than the one stated, or of a corresponding
rank, retirement shall be compulsory upon attainment of the age of sixty seven
years. In the application of this provision, the 30th of June of the year of
retirement shall in all cases be taken as the date of attainment of the above
age limit.
** 6. Transfer of judicial functionaries into another branch is prohibited.
Exceptionally, the transfer of associate judges to courts of first instance or
of associate prosecutors to public prosecutors offices, is permitted, upon
request of the persons concerned, as specified by law. Judges of ordinary
administrative courts shall be promoted to the rank of Councillor of the
Supreme Administrative Court and to one fifth of the posts, as specified by
law.
7. Courts or
councils especially provided by the Constitution and composed of members of
the Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court
shall be presided over by the senior in rank member.
** Interpretative clause:
In the true sense of article 88, the unification of the jurisdiction of first
instance of civil courts and the regulation of the service status of judicial
functionaries of this instance is permitted, provided that a procedure for
judgement and evaluation is foreseen, as specified by law.
Article 89
1. Judicial functionaries shall be prohibited from performing any other
salaried service or practicing any other profession.
** 2. Exceptionally, judicial functionaries are allowed to be elected
members of the Athens Academy or of the teaching staff of university level
institutions, as well as to sit in special councils or committees exercising
competences of a disciplinary, auditing or judicial nature and in legislative
work committees, provided that their participation is specifically stipulated
by the law. Substitution of judicial functionaries by other persons in
councils or committees established or in duties assigned by a declaration of
intention by a private individual, inter vivos or mortis causa, with the
exception of the cases of the preceding section, shall be provided by law.
** 3. Assignment of administrative duties to judicial functionaries is prohibited. Duties relating to the training of judicial functionaries are considered to be of a judicial nature. Assignment to judicial functionaries of the duties of representing the Country in international organisations is permitted.
The conduct of arbitrations by judicial functionaries is allowed only in the context of their official duties, as specified by law.
4. Participation of
judicial functionaries in the Government is prohibited.
5. The establishment of an association of judicial functionaries shall be
permitted, as specified by law.
Article 90
** 1. Promotions, assignments to posts, transfers, detachments, and
transfers to another branch of judicial functionaries shall be effected by
presidential decree, issued after prior decision by the supreme judicial
council. This council shall be composed of the president of the respective
highest court and of members of the same court chosen by lot from among those
having served in it for at least two years, as specified by law. In the
supreme judicial council on civil and criminal justice shall participate the
Prosecutor of the Supreme Court as well as two Deputy Prosecutors of the
Supreme Court who are appointed by lot from among those having served for at
least to years in the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court, as
specified by law. In the supreme judicial council of the
Supreme Administrative
Court and of administrative justice shall also participate the General
Commissioner of State who serves in them, on issues relating to judicial
functionaries of ordinary administrative courts and of the General Commission.
In the supreme judicial council of the Court of Auditors shall also
participate the General Commissioner of State who serves in it.
In the supreme judicial council shall also participate, without right to vote, two judicial functionaries of the branch to which the changes in service status refer, who must hold the rank of Judge of Appeals or an equivalent rank, and are chosen by lot, as specified by law.
** 2. In the
case of judgments concerning promotions to the posts of Councillors of State,
Supreme Court Judges, Deputy Prosecutors of the Supreme Court, Councillors of
the Court of Auditors, President Judges of Appeals and Prosecutors of Appeals,
as well as concerning the selection of the members of the General Commissions
of administrative courts and of the Court of Auditors, the council prescribed
in paragraph 1 shall be supplemented by additional members, as specified by
law. As for the rest, the provisions of paragraph 1 shall also apply in this
case.
** 3. Should the Minister of Justice disagree with the judgement of a supreme
judicial council, he may refer the matter to the plenum of the respective
highest court, as specified by law. A judicial functionary whom the judgement
concerns has also the right of recourse, under the conditions specified by the
law. For the session of the plenum of the respective highest court as a
supreme judicial council of second instance, the provisions of sections three
to six of paragraph 1 apply. Ιn the plenum of the Supreme Court, for the cases
of the preceding section, the members of the Public Prosecutor’s office of the
Supreme Court also participate with right to vote.
** 4. The
decisions of the plenum, as a supreme judiciary council of second instance, on
a matter referred to it and the decisions of the supreme judicial council with
which the Minister has not disagreed, shall be binding upon him.
** 5. Promotion to the office of President or Vice-President of the Supreme
Administrative Court, of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Auditors shall
be effected by presidential decree issued on the proposal of the Cabinet, by
selection from among the members of the respective highest court, as specified
by law. Promotion to the office of Supreme Court Prosecutor shall be effected
by similar decree, by selection from among the members of the Supreme Court
and Deputy Public Prosecutors of this Court, as specified by law. Promotion to
the office of General Commissioner of the Court of Auditors shall be effected
by similar decree, by selection from among the members of the Court of
Auditors and of the respective General Commission, as specified by law.
Promotion to the offices of General Commissioner of administrative courts
shall also be effected by similar decree, by selection from among the members
of the respective General Commission and the President Judges of Appeals of
the administrative courts, as specified by law.
The tenure of
the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, of the Supreme Court and of
the Court of Auditors, as well as of the Public Prosecutor of the Supreme
Court and of the General Commissioners of administrative courts and of the
Court of Auditors may not exceed four years, even if the judicial functionary
such this office has not reached the retirement age. Any period of time
remaining until completion of the retirement age is calculated as actual
pensionable service, as specified by law.
6. Rulings
or acts in compliance with the provisions of the present article shall not be
subject to remedies before the Supreme Administrative Court.
Article 91
1. Disciplinary authority over judicial functionaries from and above the rank
of member of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court or Deputy Prosecutor of the
Supreme Civil and Criminal Court, or a rank corresponding thereto, shall be
exercised by a Supreme Disciplinary Council, as specified by law.
Disciplinary action shall be initiated by the Minister of Justice.
2. The Supreme Disciplinary Council shall be composed of the President of the
Supreme Administrative Court as Chairman, and of two Vice-Presidents or
Councillors of the Supreme Administrative Court, two Vice-Presidents or
members of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court, two Vice-Presidents or
Councillors of the Court of Auditors and two law professors from the Law
Schools of the country's universities, as members. The members of the Council
shall be chosen by lot from among those having at least three years of service
in the respective highest in rank court or law school. Members belonging to
the court of which the conduct of one of the judges, prosecutors or
commissioners the Council has been called on to judge, shall be excluded. In
cases involving disciplinary action against members of the Supreme
Administrative Court, the Supreme Disciplinary Council shall be presided over
by the President of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court.
3. The disciplinary authority over all other judicial functionaries shall be
exercised, in the first and second instance by councils composed of regular
judges chosen by lot, as specified by law. Disciplinary action may also be
initiated by the Minister of Justice.
4. Disciplinary rulings in accordance with the provisions of this Article
shall not be subject to remedies before the Supreme Administrative Court.
Article 92
1. The civil servants of all courts' offices and prosecutors' offices shall be
permanent. They may be dismissed only pursuant to a court judgement resulting
from a criminal conviction or to decision of a judicial council on account of
a grave disciplinary breach, illness or disability, or professional
incompetence which shall be ascertained, as specified by law.
2. The qualifications of the civil servants of all courts' offices and
prosecutors' offices and their general status shall be specified by law.
** 3. Promotions, assignments to posts, transfers, detachments and
transfers to another branch of judicial staff shall be effected with the
consent of official councils, which are composed by a majority of judicial
functionaries and judicial staff, as specified by law. Disciplinary authority
over judicial staff shall be exercised by the hierarchically superior judges,
prosecutors or commissioners or employees, as well as by an official council,
as specified by law. Recourse against decisions regarding changes in the
service status of judicial staff, as well as against disciplinary decisions of
the official councils shall be permitted, as specified by law.
** 4. The employees of land registries are judicial staff. Notaries public and
unsalaried registrars of mortgages and property transfers shall be permanent
as long as corresponding services and posts exist. The provisions of the
preceding paragraphs shall analogously apply in their case.
5. Retirement shall be compulsory for notaries public and unsalaried
registrars of mortgages and property transfers upon attainment of the age of
seventy years; all others shall be obliged to retire upon attainment of the
age specified by law.
Article 93
1. Courts are distinguished into administrative, civil and criminal courts,
and they are organized by special statutes.
2. The sittings of all courts shall be public, except when the court decides
that publicity would be detrimental to the good usages or that special reasons
call for the protection of the private or family life of the litigants.
** 3. Every court judgment must be specifically and thoroughly reasoned and
must be pronounced in a public sitting.
A law shall
specify the legal consequences ensuing and the sanctions imposed in case of
violation of the preceding section. Publication of the dissenting opinion
shall be compulsory. A law shall specify matters concerning the entry of any
dissenting opinion into the minutes as well as the conditions and
prerequisites for the publicity thereof.
4. The
courts shall be bound not to apply a statute whose content is contrary to the
Constitution.
** Article 94
1. The Supreme Administrative Court and ordinary administrative courts
shall have jurisdiction on administrative disputes, as specified by law,
without prejudice to the competences of the Court of Auditors.
2. Civil courts shall have jurisdiction on private disputes, as well as on cases of voluntary jurisdiction, as specified by law.
3. In special cases and in order to achieve uniform application of the same legislation, a law may assign the hearing of categories of private disputes to administrative courts or the hearing of categories of substantive administrative disputes to civil courts.
4. Any other competence of an administrative nature may be assigned to civil or administrative courts, as specified by law. These competences include the adoption of measures for compliance of the Public Administration with judicial decisions. Judicial decisions are subject to compulsory execution also against the Public Sector, local government agencies and legal entities of public law, as specified by law.
Article 95
1. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court pertains mainly to:
** a) The annulment upon petition of enforceable acts of administrative
authorities for excess of power or violation of the law.
** b) The reversal upon petition of final judgements of ordinary
administrative courts, as specified by law.
c) The trial of substantive administrative disputes submitted thereto as
provided by the Constitution and the statutes.
d) The elaboration of all decrees of a general regulatory nature.
2. The provisions of article 93 paragraphs 2 and 3 hereinabove shall not be
applicable in the exercise of the competence specified under subparagraph (d)
of the preceding paragraph.
** 3. The trial of categories of cases which come under the supreme
Administrative Court's jurisdiction for annulment may by law come under
ordinary administrative courts, depending on their nature or importance. The
Supreme
Administrative Court has the jurisdiction of second instance, as specified by
law.
4. The jurisdiction
of the Supreme Administrative Court shall be regulated and exercised as
specifically provided by law.
** 5. The Public Administration shall be under obligation to comply with
judicial decisions. The breach of this obligation shall render liable any
competent agent, as specified by law. The measures necessary for ensuring the
compliance of the Public Administration shall be specified by law.
Article 96
1. The punishment of crimes and the of all measures provided by criminal laws,
belongs to the jurisdiction of regular criminal courts.
2. Statutes may: (a) assign the trial of police offences punishable by fine to
authorities exercising police duties, (b) assign the trial of petty offences
related to agrarian property and private disputes arising therefrom, to
agrarian security authorities.
In both cases judgments shall be subject to appeal before the competent
ordinary court; such appeal shall suspend the execution of the judgment.
3. Special statutes shall regulate matters pertaining to juvenile courts. The
provisions of articles 93 paragraph 2 and 97 need not apply in this case. The
judgments of these courts may be pronounced in camera.
4. Special statutes provide for:
a) Military, naval and air force courts which shall have no jurisdiction over
civilians.
b) Prize courts.
5. The courts specified under section (a) of the previous paragraph shall be
composed in majority of members of the judicial branch of the armed forces,
vested with the guaranties of functional and personal independence specified
in article 87 paragraph 1 of the Constitution. The provisions of paragraphs 2
to 4 of article 93 shall apply to the sittings and judgements of these courts.
Matters pertaining to the application of provisions of this paragraph, as well
as the time upon which they shall enter into force, shall be specified by law.
Article 97
1. Felonies and political crimes shall be tried by mixed jury courts composed
of regular judges and jurors, as specified by law. The judgments of these
courts shall be subject to the legal remedies specified by law.
2. Felonies and political crimes which prior to the date of entry into force
of this Constitution have, by constituent acts, parliamentary resolutions and
special statutes, come under the jurisdiction of courts of appeal shall
continue to be tried by the said courts, as long as a statute does not
transfer them to the jurisdiction of mixed jury courts.
Other felonies may be transferred to the jurisdiction of the same courts of
appeal by statute.
3. Crimes of any degree committed through the press shall be under the
jurisdiction of ordinary criminal courts, as specified by law.
Article 98
** 1. The jurisdiction of the Court of Auditors pertains mainly to:
a) The audit of the expenditures of the State as well as of local government
agencies or other legal entities subject to this status by special provision
of law.
b) The audit of agreements of a high financial value in which the Public Sector or another legal entity put in the same category as the Public Sector in this respect is the contracting partner, as specified by law.
c) The audit of the accounts of accountable officials and of the local government agencies or other legal entities subject to the audit provided by section (a).
d) Advisory
opinions concerning Bills on pensions or on the recognition of service for
granting of the right to a pension, in accordance with article 73 paragraph 2,
as well as concerning other matters specified by law.
e) The drawing up and submission to Parliament of a report on the financial
statement and balance sheet of the State, in accordance with article 79
paragraph 7.
f) The trial of disputes concerning the granting of pensions as well as concerning the audit of accounts under section (c).
g) The trial of
cases related to liability of civil or military servants of the State, as well
as of civil servants of local government agencies and of the other legal
entities of public law, for any loss incurred, through malicious intent or
negligence, upon the State, the local government agencies or other legal
entities of public law.
2. The
authority of the Court of Auditors shall be regulated and exercised as
specified by law.
The provisions of article 93 paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not be applicable in the
cases specified in (a) through (d) of the preceding paragraph.
3. The judgments of the Court of Auditors in the cases specified in paragraph
1 shall not be subject to the control of the Supreme Administrative Court.
Article 99
1. Suits against judicial functionaries for faulty wrongful judgment shall be
tried, as specified by law, by a special court composed of the President of
the Supreme Administrative Court, as President, and one Councillor of the
Supreme Administrative Court, one Supreme Civil and Criminal Court judge, one
Councillor of the Court of Auditors, two law professors of the law schools of
the country's universities and two barristers from among the members of the
Supreme Disciplinary Council for barristers, as members, all of whom shall be
chosen by lot.
2. Each time, that member of the special court shall be exempted who belongs
to the judicial corps or branch, the actions or omissions of a functionary of
which the court is called upon to judge. In the case of a suit against a
member of the Supreme Administrative Court or a functionary of the ordinary
administrative courts, the special court shall be presided over by the
President of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court.
3. No permission shall be required to institute a suit for faulty wrongful
judgement.
Article 100
1. A Special Highest Court shall be established, the jurisdiction of which
shall comprise:
a) The trial of objections in accordance with article 58.
b) Verification of the validity and returns of a referendum held in accordance
with article 44 paragraph 2.
c) Judgment in cases involving the incompatibility or the forfeiture of office
by a Member of Parliament, in accordance with article 55 paragraph 2 and
article 57.
d) Settlement of any conflict between the courts and the administrative
authorities, or between the Supreme Administrative Court and the ordinary
administrative courts on one hand and the civil and criminal courts on the
other, or between the Court of Auditors and any other court.
e) Settlement of controversies on whether the content of a statute enacted by
Parliament is contrary to the Constitution, or on the interpretation of
provisions of such statute when conflicting judgments have been pronounced by
the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court or the
Court of Auditors.
f) The settlement of controversies related to the designation of rules of
international law as generally acknowledged in accordance with article 28
paragraph 1.
2. The Court specified in paragraph 1 shall be composed of the President of
the Supreme Administrative Court, the President of the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court and the President of the Court of Auditors, four Councillors of
the Supreme Administrative Court and four members of the Supreme Civil and
Criminal Court chosen by lot for a two-year term. The Court shall be presided
over by the President of the Supreme Administrative Court or the President of
the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court, according to seniority.
In the cases specified under sections (d) and (e) of the preceding paragraph,
the composition of the Court shall be expanded to include two law professors
of the law schools of the country's universities, chosen by lot.
3. The organization and functioning of the Court, the appointment, replacement
of and assistance to its members, as well as the procedure to be followed
shall be determined by special statute.
4. The judgments of
this Court shall be irrevocable.
Provisions of a statute declared unconstitutional shall be invalid as of the
date of publication of the respective judgment, or as of the date specified by
the ruling.
** 5. When a chamber or department of the Supreme Administrative Court or of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court or of the Court of Auditors judges a provision of a statute enacted by Parliament to be contrary to the Constitution, it shall compulsorily refer the question to the respective plenum, unless this has been judged by a previous decision of the plenum or of the Special Highest Court of the present article. The plenum shall be assembled into judicial formation and shall decide definitively, as specified by law. This regulation shall apply analogously also in the elaboration of regulatory decrees by the Supreme Administrative Court.
** Article 100A
The matters relating to the establishment and operation of the Legal Council of the State, as well as the matters relating to the service status of the functionaries and employees serving in it, shall be specified by law. The jurisdiction of the Legal Council of the State pertains mainly to the judicial support to and representation of the State and to the acknowledgement of claims against the State or to the settlement of disputes with it. The provisions of article 88 paragraphs 2 and 5, and of article 90 paragraph 5, shall apply analogously also to the main staff of the Legal Council of the State.
Article 101
1. The administration of the State shall be organized according to the
principle of decentralization.
2. The administrative division of the Country shall be based on geoeconomic,
social and transportation conditions.
** 3. Regional officers of the State shall have general decisive authority
on matters of their district. The central officers of the State, in addition
to special powers, shall have the general guidance, coordination and checking
of the legality of the acts of regional officers, as specified by law.
** Interpretative clause:
The ordinary legislator and the Public Administration, when acting in a regulatory capacity, are under obligation to take into consideration the particular circumstances of island regions.
** Article 101A
1. In the cases where the Constitution provides the establishment and
operation of independent authorities, their members shall be appointed for a
fixed tenure and shall enjoy personal and operational independence, as
specified by law.
2. The matters relating to the selection and service status of the scientific and other staff of the service organised for supporting the operation of each independent authority, shall be specified by law. The persons staffing the independent authorities must possess the corresponding qualifications, as specified by law. Their selection is made by decision of the Conference of Parliamentary Chairmen seeking unanimity or in any case by the increased majority of four fifths of its members. The matters relating to the selection procedure are specified by the Standing Orders of the Parliament.
3. The matters concerning the relation between the independent authorities and the Parliament and the manner in which parliamentary control is exercised, are specified by the Standing Orders of the Parliament.
** Article 102
1. The administration of local affairs belongs to local government agencies
of the first and second level. For the administration of local affairs, the
presumption of competence concurs in favour of local government agencies. The
range and the categories of local affairs, as well as their allocation to the
individual levels, shall be specified by law. The exercise of competences
constituting mission of the State may be assigned by law to local government
agencies.
2. Local
government agencies shall enjoy administrative and financial independence.
Their authorities shall be elected by universal and secret ballot, as
specified by law.
3. The law may provide for the execution of works or the provision of services
or the exercise of competences belonging to local government agencies by
compulsory or voluntary associations thereof, which shall be governed by
elected officers.
4. The State
shall exercise the supervision of local government agencies, which shall
consist exclusively in legality checking and shall not be allowed to impede
their initiative and freedom of action. Legality checking shall be exercised
as specified by law. With the exception of cases involving ipso jure
forfeiture of office or suspension, disciplinary sanctions to elected officers
of local government agencies shall be imposed only with the consent of a
council composed in its majority of regular judges, as specified by law.
5. The State shall adopt the legislative, regulatory and fiscal measures
required for ensuring the financial independence and the funds necessary for
fulfilment of mission and exercise of the competences of local government
agencies, ensuring at the same time the transparency in the management of such
funds. Matters pertaining to the attribution and allocation, among local
government agencies, of the taxes or duties provided in their favour and
collected by the State shall be specified by law. Every transfer of
competences from central or regional officers of the State to local government
also entails the transfer of the corresponding funds. Matters pertaining to
the determination and collection of local revenues directly by local
government agencies shall be specified by law.
Article 103
1. Civil servants shall be the executors of the will of the State and shall
serve the people, owing allegiance to the Constitution and devotion to the
Fatherland. The qualifications and the manner of their appointment shall be
specified by law.
2. No one may be appointed to a post not provided by law. Special statutes may
provide for exceptions in order to fill unforeseeable and urgent needs with
personnel hired for a certain period of time on a private law contract.
3. Posts of specialized scientific and technical or auxiliary personnel
provided by law, may be filled by personnel hired on private law contracts.
The terms of employment and the specific guarantees under which this personnel
shall be employed, shall be specified by law.
4. Civil servants holding posts provided by law shall be permanent so long as
these posts exist. Their salaries shall evolve in accordance with the
provisions of the law; with the exception of those retiring upon attainment of
the age limit or when dismissed by court judgement, civil servants may not be
transferred without an opinion or lowered in rank or dismissed without a
decision of a service council consisting of at least two-thirds of permanent
civil servants.
Recourse against the decisions of these councils may be sought before the
Supreme Administrative Court, as specified by law.
5. Highest civil servants holding posts outside of the civil service
hierarchy, persons directly appointed on an ambassadorial rank, employees of
the Presidency of the Republic and the offices of the Prime Minister,
Ministers and Undersecretaries may by law be exempted from permanency.
6. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall apply to the staff of
Parliament, which in other aspects shall be entirely subject to its Standing
Orders, and to the civil servants of local government agencies and other
public law legal persons.
** 7. Engagement of employees in the Public Administration and in the wider Public Sector, as the latter is defined each time, with the exception of the cases under paragraph 5, shall take place either by competitive entry examination or by selection on the basis of predefined and objective criteria, and shall be subject to the control of an independent authority, as specified by law.
A law may provide for special selection procedures which are subject to increased guarantees for transparency and meritocracy, or for special personnel selection procedures for posts the duties of which are subject to special constitutional guarantees or are similar to a mandate.
** 8. A law shall specify the conditions and the duration of private law employment relations in the Public Administration and in the wider Public Sector, as the latter is defined each time, for covering either posts beyond those provided for by the first section of paragraph 3, or temporary or unforeseeable and urgent needs in accordance with the second section under paragraph 2. A law shall also specify the duties that the personnel of the preceding section may exercise. Conversion by law of the employment relation of personnel under the first section to permanent employment or conversion by law of their employment contracts into open-end employment contracts is prohibited. The prohibitions of the present paragraph also apply to those employed on the basis of contracts of work.
** 9. Matters relating to the establishment and competences of the “Ombudsman”, which operates as an independent authority, shall be specified by law.
Article 104
1. None of the employees mentioned in the preceding article may be appointed
to another post of the civil service or of local government agencies or of
other public law legal persons, or of public enterprises or public utility
agencies. As an exception, appointment to a second post may be permitted by
special statute, in compliance with the provisions of the following paragraph.
2. Additional salaries or emoluments of any kind of employees mentioned in the
preceding article may not exceed the total salary received per month from
their post which is provided by law.
3. No prior permission shall be required to bring to trial civil servants or
employees of local government agencies or of other public corporate bodies.
Article 105
1. The Athos peninsula extending beyond Megali Vigla and constituting the
region of Aghion Oros shall, in accordance with its ancient privileged status,
be a self-governed part of the Greek State, whose sovereignty thereon shall
remain intact. Spiritually, Aghion Oros shall come under the direct
jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. All persons leading a monastic
life thereon acquire Greek citizenship without further formalities, upon
admission as novices or monks.
2. Aghion Oros shall be governed, according to its regime, by its twenty Holy
Monasteries among which the entire Athos peninsula is divided; the territory
of the peninsula shall be exempt from expropriation.
The administration of Aghion Oros shall be exercised by representatives of the
Holy Monasteries constituting the Holy Community. No change whatsoever shall
be permitted in the administrative system or in the number of Monasteries of
Aghion Oros, or in their hierarchical order or in their position to their
subordinate dependencies. Heterodox or schismatic persons shall be prohibited
from dwelling thereon.
3. The determination in detail of the regimes of the Aghion Oros entities and
the manner of operation thereof is effected by the Charter of Aghion Oros
which, with the cooperation of the State representative, shall be drawn up and
voted by the twenty Holy Monasteries and ratified by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate and the Parliament of the Hellenes.
4. Faithful observance of the regimes of the Aghion Oros entities shall in the
spiritual field be under the supreme supervision of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, and, in the administrative, under the supervision of the State,
which shall also be exclusively responsible for safeguarding public order and
security.
5. The afore-mentioned powers of the State shall be exercised through a
governor whose rights and duties shall be determined by law.
The law shall likewise determine the judicial power exercised by the monastic
authorities and the Holy Community, as well as the customs and taxation
privileges of Aghion Oros.
Article 106
1. In order to consolidate social peace and protect the general interest, the
State shall plan and coordinate economic activity in the Country, aiming at
safeguarding the economic development of all sectors of the national economy.
The State shall take all measures necessary to develop sources of national
wealth in the atmosphere, in underground and underwater deposits, and to
promote regional development and to further especially the economy of
mountainous, insular and frontier areas.
2. Private economic initiative shall not be permitted to develop at the
expense of freedom and human dignity, or to the detriment of the national
economy.
3. With the reservation of the protection provided in article 107 in
connection with the re-export of foreign capital, the law may regulate the
acquisition by purchase of enterprises or the compulsory participation therein
of the State or other public agencies, in the event these enterprises are of
the nature of a monopoly or are of vital importance to the development of
sources of national wealth or are primarily intended to offer services to the
community as a whole.
4. The cost of purchase or the counterpart to the compulsory participation of
the State or other public agencies must indispensably be determined by a court
and must be in full, so as to correspond to the value of the purchased
enterprise or the participation therein.
5. A shareholder, partner or owner of an enterprise, the control of which
devolves upon the State or upon an agency controlled by the State as a result
of compulsory participation in accordance with paragraph 3, shall be entitled
to request the purchase of his share in the enterprise, as specified by law.
6. The law may specify matters pertaining to the contribution to the State
expenditure by beneficiaries from the execution of public utility works or
works of a more general significance for the economic development of the
Country.
Interpretative clause:
The value specified in paragraph 4 does not include such value as is due to
the monopolistic nature of the enterprise.
Article 107
1. Legislation enjoying legal force higher than that of statutes, enacted
before April 21, 1967, pertaining to the protection of foreign capital, shall
continue to enjoy such legal force and shall be applicable to capital imported
henceforth.
The same legal force is enjoyed by the provisions of Chapters A through D of
Section A of Statute 27/75 "on the taxation of ships, compulsory contributions
for the development of the merchant marine, establishment of foreign shipping
companies and regulation of related matters".
2. A statute, to be promulgated once and for all within three months of the
date of entry into force of this Constitution, shall specify the terms and the
procedure for the revision or cancellation of administrative acts approving
investments in application of legislative decree 2687/1953 and issued in any
form whatsoever, or agreements contracted on investment of foreign capital
between April 21, 1967 and July 23, 1974, with the exception of those
pertaining to the registration of ships under the Greek flag.
Article 108
1. The State must take care for emigrant Greeks and for the maintenance of
their ties with the Fatherland. The State shall also attend to the education,
the social and professional advancement of Greeks working outside the State.
** 2. A law shall specify the matters relating to the organisation, operation and competences of the Council of Hellenes Abroad, whose mission is the expression of all communities of Hellenes across the world.
Article 109
1. Alteration of the contents or terms of a will, codicil or donation as to
the provisions benefiting the State or a charitable cause is prohibited.
2. Exceptionally, a more beneficial use or disposal of a bequest or donation,
for the same or for another charitable cause in the area designated by the
donor or the testator, or in the greater district thereabout, shall be
permitted, as specified by law, after it is certified by a court judgement
that for any reason whatsoever, the will of the donor or the testator cannot
be fulfilled, either in whole or to its greatest extent as well as if it can
be more fully satisfied by the change of use.
** 3. A law shall specify the matters relating to the compilation of a register of legacies or devises for the entire country and by region, to the inventorisation and classification of their property, to the administration and management of each legacy or devise in accordance with the will of the devisor or donor, and all other relevant matters.
Article 110
1. The provisions of the Constitution shall be subject to revision with the
exception of those which determine the form of government as a Parliamentary
Republic and those of articles 2 paragraph 1, 4 paragraphs 1, 4 and 7 , 5
paragraphs 1 and 3, 13 paragraph 1, and 26.
2. The need for revision of the Constitution shall be ascertained by a
resolution of Parliament adopted, on the proposal of not less than fifty
Members of Parliament, by a three-fifths majority of the total number of its
members in two ballots, held at least one month apart. This resolution shall
define specifically the provisions to be revised.
3. Upon a resolution by Parliament on the revision of the Constitution, the
next Parliament shall, in the course of its opening session, decide on the
provisions to be revised by an absolute majority of the total number of its
members.
4. Should a proposal for revision of the Constitution receive the majority of
the votes of the total number of members but not the three-fifths majority
specified in paragraph 2, the next Parliament may, in its opening session,
decide on the provisions to be revised by a three-fifths majority of the total
number of its members.
5. Every duly voted revision of provisions of the Constitution shall be
published in the Government Gazette within ten days of its adoption by
Parliament and shall come into force through a special parliamentary
resolution.
6. Revision of the Constitution is not permitted before the lapse of five
years from the completion of a previous revision.
Article 111
1. All provisions of statutes or of administrative acts of a regulatory nature
which are contrary to the Constitution, are abolished as of the date the
Constitution comes into force.
2. Constituent acts promulgated between July 24, 1974 and the convocation of
the Fifth Revisionary Parliament, as well as parliamentary resolutions thereof
shall continue to be in force even if their provisions are contrary to the
Constitution; they can be amended or abolished by statute. As of the date of
coming into force of the Constitution, the provision of article 8 of the
constituent act of September 3, 1974 concerning the retirement age limit for
professors of university level institutions is abolished.
3. Article 2 of the presidential decree 700 of October 9, 1974 "on the partial
re-enactment of articles 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 95, and 97 of the Constitution
and the lifting of the statute "on a state of siege" and Legislative Decree
167 of November 16, 1974 "on granting of the legal remedy of appeal against
the judgments of the military tribunal", shall remain in force, allowing for
their amendment or abolition by statute.
4. The parliamentary resolution of April 16/29, 1952 shall remain in force for
six months from the date of coming into force of this Constitution. Within
this time-limit, the amendment, completion or abolition by statute of the
constituent acts and resolutions referred to in article 3 paragraph 1 of the
aforementioned resolution shall be permitted, as well as the maintenance of
some of these, in whole or in part, even after the lapse of this time-limit,
on condition that the provisions amended, completed or remaining in force
cannot be contrary to this Constitution.
5. Greeks deprived in any manner whatsoever of their citizenship prior to the
coming into force of this Constitution shall re-acquire it upon a decision by
special committees of judicial functionaries, as specified by law.
6. The provision of article 19 of legislative decree 3370/1955 "on sanctioning
of the Code of Greek citizenship" shall remain in force until it is repealed
by law.
Article 112
1. On matters where provisions of this Constitution explicitly require the
promulgation of a statute to regulate them, the statutes or the administrative
acts of a regulatory nature which are in force, as the case may be, at the
time this Constitution comes into force, shall remain in force until the
statute shall be promulgated, with the exception of those which are contrary
to the provisions of the Constitution.
2. The provisions of article 109 paragraph 2 and 79 paragraph 8 shall enter
into force as of the date of the coming into force of each of the statutes
especially provided therein which must be promulgated at the latest by the end
of the year 1976. Until the statute provided for in article 109 paragraph 2
comes into force, the already existing constitutional and legislative
regulation at the time this Constitution enters into force shall continue to
be applicable.
3. Constituent Act of October 5, 1974, which shall remain in force, shall be
construed as meaning that the suspension of the exercise of the duties of
professors as of their election as Members of Parliament shall not, throughout
the duration of the present parliamentary period, be extended to include
teaching, research, authorship, and scientific work in laboratories and
classrooms of the respective schools; but the participation of these
professors in the administration of schools and in the election of teaching
personnel in general or in the examination of students shall be excluded.
4. The application of article 16 paragraph 3, on the number of years of
compulsory education, shall be fulfilled by means of a statute, within five
years of the coming into force of this Constitution.
Article 113
The Standing Orders of Parliament, the parliamentary resolutions pertaining
thereto and the statutes specifying the manner in which Parliament shall
function, shall continue to be in force pending the date of enactment of the
new Standing Orders, with the exception of those which are contrary to the
provisions of this Constitution.
As to the function of the Sections of Parliament provided by articles 70 and
71 of the Constitution, the provisions of the last Standing Orders regulating
the work of the Special Legislative Committee of article 35 of the
Constitution of January 1, 1952 shall apply in a supplementary manner, as
provided by article 3 of parliamentary resolution A' dated December 14, 1974.
Pending the enactment of the new Standing Orders the Committee of article 71
of the Constitution shall be composed of sixty regular members and thirty
alternate, to be selected by the Speaker from among all parties and groups, in
proportion to their strength. In case of dispute, prior to the publication of
the new Standing Orders, on the provisions to be applied, the Plenum or the
Section of Parliament in the operation of which the question has arisen shall
decide.
Article 114
1. The election of the first President of the Republic must take place within
two months of the publication of this Constitution at the latest, in a special
session of Parliament, to be called by the Speaker at least five days in
advance; the provisions of the Standing Orders as to the election of the
Speaker shall be analogously applied.
The President to be elected shall assume the discharge of his duties upon
being sworn in, within five days of his election at the latest .
The statute specified in article 49 paragraph 5 on the regulation of matters
related to the liabilities of the President of the Republic must be
promulgated before December 31, 1975.
Pending the enactment of the statute specified in article 33 paragraph 3,
matters defined therein shall be regulated by the provisions pertaining to the
provisional President of the Republic.
2. As of the date of enactment of this Constitution and until the President of
the Republic to be elected assumes the discharge of his duties, the
provisional President of the Republic shall exercise the authority vested in
the President by the Constitution, with the restrictions specified in article
2 of parliamentary resolution B' of the Fifth Revisionary Parliament dated
December 24, 1974.
Article 115
1. Pending the enactment of the statute provided in article 86 paragraph 1,
the standing provisions on prosecution, interrogation and trial of acts and
omissions specified in article 49 paragraph 1 and article 85 shall be
applicable.
2. The statute provided by article 100 must be enacted within one year, at the
latest, from the coming into force of this Constitution. Pending the enactment
of the said statute and the beginning of the function of the Special Highest
Court:
a) Disputes on the matters specified in article 55 paragraph 2 and article 57
shall be solved by parliamentary resolution, in accordance with the provisions
of the Standing Orders on personal issues.
b) The verification of the validity and the returns of a referendum held in
accordance with article 44 paragraph 2, as well as the trial of objections to
the validity and the returns of parliamentary elections in accordance with
article 58 shall be assigned to the Special Court provided by article 73 of
the Constitution of January 1, 1952; the procedure of articles 116 seq. of
presidential decree 650/1974 shall apply.
c) The settlement of conflicts specified in article 100 paragraph 1 section
(d) shall come under the jurisdiction of the Court specified in article 5 of
the Constitution of January 1, 1952; laws related to the organization,
functioning and procedure before the said Court shall also remain temporarily
in force.
3. Pending the entry into force of the statute provided by article 99, suits
for faulty wrongful judgement shall be tried by the court provided under
article 110 of the Constitution of January 1, 1952, and in accordance with the
procedure effective at the time of publication of this Constitution.
4. Pending the entry into force of the statute provided under article 87
paragraph 3 and the establishment of the judicial and disciplinary committees
provided under article 90 paragraphs 1 and 2 and article 91, the relevant
provisions valid at the time of entry into force of this Constitution shall
remain in force. The statutes on the above matters must be promulgated not
later than one year from the date of coming into force of this Constitution.
5. Pending the entry into force of the statutes provided under article 92, the
provisions existing at the time this Constitution enters into force shall
remain in force. The said statutes must be promulgated not later than one year
from the date of coming into force of this Constitution.
6. The special statute provided under article 57 paragraph 5 must be
promulgated within six months from the date of coming into force of this
Constitution.
** 7. The incompatibility of parliamentary office with the exercise of any profession, provided for by the penultimate section of paragraph 1 of article 57, enters into force upon promulgation of the law provided for in the same provision and on 1.1.2001 at the latest.
Article 116
1. Existing provisions contrary to article 4 paragraph 2 shall remain in force
pending their abolition by statute not later than December 31, 1982.
** 2. Adoption of positive measures for promoting equality between men and
women does not constitute discrimination on the basis of sex. The State shall
attend to the elimination of inequalities actually existing, especially to the
detriment of women.
3. Ministerial decisions of a regulatory nature as well as provisions of collective agreements or arbitration decisions fixing the remuneration for employment which are contrary to the provisions of article 22 paragraph 1 shall remain in force until they are replaced not later than three years from the date of entry into force of this Constitution.
Article 117
1. Laws issued before April 21, 1967, in application of article 104 of the
Constitution of January 1, 1952 shall be deemed not to be contrary to this
Constitution and shall remain in force.
2. Notwithstanding article 17, the legislative regulation and dissolution of
existing leases of farms and other land onuses, the purchase of bare ownership
by long leasers of long leased plots and the abrogation of peculiar real
property relationships shall be permitted.
3. Public or private forests or forest expanses which have been destroyed or
are being destroyed by fire or have otherwise been deforested or are being
deforested, shall not thereby relinquish their previous designation and shall
compulsorily be proclaimed reforestable, the possibility of their disposal for
other uses being excluded.
4. The expropriation of forests and forest expanses owned by individuals or by
private or public law legal persons shall be permitted only in cases
benefiting the State, in accordance with the provisions of article 17, for
reasons of public utility; but their designation as forests shall not be
altered.
5. The expropriations which have been declared or are being declared until the
existing statutes on expropriation have been adapted to this Constitution,
shall be governed by provisions in force at the time of their declaration.
6. Paragraphs 3 and 5 of article 24 shall be applicable to residential areas
which have been designated or are being reformed as such as of the coming into
force of the laws provided for therein.
** 7. The revised provision of the first section of paragraph 4 under article 17 comes into force upon entry into force of the corresponding implementing law and in any case as of 1.1.2002.
Article 118
1. As of the date of entry into force of this Constitution judicial
functionaries from the rank of president or public prosecutor of the Court of
Appeals and up or of corresponding ranks, shall retire from service, as before
that time, upon attainment of the age of seventy years; this age limit shall
annually be lowered by one year until the age of sixty-seven years, beginning
in 1977.
2. Highest judicial functionaries who were not in service at the time the
constituent act of September 4/5, 1974 "on the restoration of order and
harmony in the judicial branch" came into force and who were demoted on that
basis, due to the time at which their promotion was made and against whom the
disciplinary prosecution specified in article 6 of the said constituent act
was not initiated, shall be compulsorily committed by the competent Minister
to the Highest Disciplinary Council, within three months of the coming into
force of this Constitution.
The Highest Disciplinary Council shall decide whether the conditions of
promotion have reduced the prestige and the special position in the service of
the promoted person and shall by final decision rule on re-acquisition or not
of the automatically forfeited rank and the rights attached thereto, the
retroactive payment of salary or pension being however excluded.
The decision must be pronounced within three months of committal.
The closest living relatives of a judicial functionary having been demoted and
deceased, may exercise all the rights accorded to persons under disciplinary
trial before the Highest Disciplinary Council.
3. Pending the publication of the law provided under article 101 paragraph 3 ,
provisions in force pertaining to the distribution of authority between
central and regional services shall continue to be applied. These provisions
may be amended by the transfer of special authority from central to regional
services.
** 4. The revised provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 under article 89 come into force upon entry into force of the corresponding implementing law and in any case as of 1.1.2002.
** 5. The presidents of the highest courts, the Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, the general commissioners of administrative courts and of the Court of Auditors, as well as the President of the Legal Council of the State who are in service at the time of entry into force of the revised provision of paragraph 5 of article 90, shall retire, as provided by paragraph 5 of article 88.
** 6. Exceptions from the competence of the Supreme Personnel Selection Council provided for or maintained in law 2190/1994, as in force, continue to apply.
** 7. Legislative regulations concerning the finalisation of the service status for staff coming under paragraph 8 of article 103 continue to apply until the relevant procedures are completed.
Article 119
1. The inadmissibility of petitions for annulment of acts issued between April
21, 1967 and July 23, 1974, irrespective of the way it operated, may be lifted
by statute regardless of whether or not such a petition had been submitted; in
no case, however, may retroactive wages be paid to persons who prevail through
this legal remedy.
2. Military or civil servants who by law have been restored ipso jure to the
public posts they occupied and who have become Members of Parliament, may
within an eight-day limit state their choice between their parliamentary
office and their public post.
Article 120
1. This Constitution, voted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the
Hellenes, is signed by its Speaker and published by the provisional President
of the Republic in the Government Gazette by decree countersigned by the
Cabinet and shall enter into force on the eleventh of June 1975.
2. Respect towards the Constitution and the law concurrent thereto, and
devotion to the Fatherland and to Democracy constitute a fundamental duty of
all Greeks.
3. Usurpation, in any way whatsoever, of popular sovereignty and of powers
deriving therefrom shall be prosecuted upon restoration of the lawful
authority; the limitation from which punishment for the crime is barred shall
begin as of the restoration of lawful authority.
4. Observance of the constitution is entrusted to the patriotism of the Greeks
who shall have the right and the duty to resist by all possible means against
anyone who attempts the violent abolition of the Constitution.
[1] Translation of provisions of the Constitution of Greece amended in 2001 was made by Klitos Paraskevopoulos and Prokopis Sofras.
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