The game with the Constitutional Review that New Democracy started yesterday is a dangerous one. If the attempt to amend the Constitution fails, like the previous one failed in 2008, then six more years will go to waste in order to enact regulations that should have already been enacted.
If the Constitutional Review fails, then for six years nothing will change regarding ministerial liability and parliamentary immunity. Nothing will change in the election process of the President, as well as the operation of private universities in Greece. There will be no Constitutional Court, nor a fixed electoral system.
A series of amendments that are meant to modernize our country and our virtually non-existent state mechanism will sit in a drawer for six more years, because the parties are not handling the Parliamentary Review with the required seriousness.
The procedure to amend the Constitution is very specific. It sets terms and conditions that do not appear to exist at present.
First of all, in order to agree which articles will be forwarded for review in the next Parliament, at least 151 votes are needed in the current Parliament and 180 in the next one. Even if the Parliamentary Review begins, where exactly will they find the 151 votes?
New Democracy and PASOK are unable to come to an agreement on open-air markets stalls. How can they agree on private universities?
Perhaps we have forgotten what happened in 2008 when the amendment of article 16 on higher education was vetoed by PASOK, with Mr. Venizelos as rapporteur and despite having initially come to an agreement?
Or maybe the government is deluded and believes that it can come to an agreement with the other parties, when there is no convergence in Parliament on the simplest matters.
The procedures for a Constitutional Review have been initiated and which is doomed to fail. And since it is certain that it will fail, whoever brings up such a matter is obviously doing it for other reasons, which we can all understand…
Vasilis Chiotis
