G. Gerapetritis: Radical changes are coming to the Judiciary without calculating political costs

The government is preparing a courageous reform at all levels of justice. From the podium of the 7th Economic Forum of Delphi, which takes place in Delphi April 6-9 and is under the auspices of SA. of the President of the Republic, Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the Minister of State, George Gerapetritis, gave the stigma of the pregnant regulation, emphasizing that “in the near future radical decisions will be announced, without calculating the political cost”.

During the discussion, which was moderated by the journalist of the Kathimerini newspaper, Ioanna Mandrou, Mr. Gerapetritis referred to the structural problems of justice and announced the evaluation of court officials. “It is impossible not to evaluate the judges. There is a lot of attachment to the yearbook, we need big steps forward, we have to give meritocracy to the judiciary,” he said, adding that changes are being made to the map of the country’s courts. He also stressed that four bills on Education are being tabled immediately, Staff State 2, Health and Climate Change.

With the political thermometer soaring, the minister was asked about the possibility of early elections, stressing that the government is not playing with institutions like the previous government and intends to complete the four-year term. Regarding the scenarios of a cooperation government, Mr. Gerapetritis pointed out that autonomy is a goal but not an end in itself, adding that the current government does not exclude program collaborations on the basis of a plan that is beneficial for the country.

In his own position, the president of the Court of Auditors, Ioannis Sarmas, noted that at the moment there are 120,000 pending cases in the Greek courts, which can not be processed even if the judges reach their limits. He argued that acceleration is not only in the assessment, but also in other tools, such as the pilot trial.

He also referred to the readiness of the Court of Auditors not to lose a single euro from the Recovery Fund due to delays. “We are ready to deal with twice the number of annual contracts, around 8,000,” he said.

Michalis Pikramenos, vice-president of the Council of State, stressed the need to evaluate judicial officials, saying that under the current institutional framework, supreme judges are not controlled. He argued that evaluation would improve both the speed and quality of decisions. Regarding the court map, Mr. Pikramenos spoke about courts of two types, the larger ones (in urban centers) with physical presence and the smaller ones, which will operate by telematics.

On the Forum website (www.delphiforum.gr) you can see the sections and all the thematic discussions that will take place at the 4-day Forum in April, as well as the 750 and more distinguished personalities – confirmed speakers from Greece and abroad.