The speech of Sia Anagnostopoulos during the discussion and voting of the Ministry of Justice’s s/n on the new judicial charter.
I want to start by saying what the Minister would need to hear if he were here. He was also upset by other colleagues and other female colleagues. When a Minister, a man who represents the executive branch, expresses views which are not only anachronistic, they not only take societies too far back to non-democratic periods, to completely different historical periods, and we hear as an argument that he said these things, because they are his scientific opinion, if the executive branch, whoever represents it, wants to say his scientific opinion, he stays at home, he does not exercise executive power and even affecting people’s lives.
I say this as a person and as a woman who for years I, like most women, have been involved in one way or another in public or in private with gender equality, with rights, with all of that. I think, therefore, in a borderline moment, in which we are, where femicides are a big problem for society, the adoption of such opinions and even expressed in the public space by elected or not. But from people who exercise power it is extremely problematic.
We requested the impeachment of Mr. Vartzopoulos because such scientific opinions cannot have any validity in the public space, especially during such periods and no tolerance.
Let us now come to the bill in question. I won’t say too much. The colleagues and indeed the lawyers and the rapporteur spoke to us in the best possible way, explained the disputes. What are the problems of society? Why don’t we ever start from them? The Government of the New Democracy never starts from these problems. He has adopted this scheme of polyvalent modernization, which begins with Venizelos and reaches Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which a narrative unrelated to society is woven. After an economic crisis, after a pandemic, with the big problems of society that have been created, a big institutional, social and political leap is needed that touches and responds to the problems.
As far as justice is concerned, the first big problem is the speed of justice. Second big problem, the modernization of justice tools, digitization and so on and third big problem is understaffing, as the whole public sector is understaffed. Court officials are missing everywhere, from all structures of justice. This, if one does not see it, one does not see anything. So, he legislates for a few, for a few or at the behest of others.
We experienced the feeling of justice yesterday – and not only yesterday – from the people who lost their own people in Mati and the well-known “it’s your fault, because these criminal codes…” started again. Everything is wrong and a distortion of reality, while the major problem is that we lack confidence in justice.
What changes are needed? The first big change that would be needed is for citizens to feel closer to justice, their natural judge. To be able to have faster access, from small to large issues.
The Magistrates’ Courts are closed. Forty-three Magistrates’ Courts in the country. “Peacemakers-Judges” were called the Justices of the Peace and in fact, during the Siege of Messolonghi, which I will come back to later.
The Magistrates’ Courts, which usually handle small cases – where most of the society, the popular strata are addressed – are closed. These are closed and an adventure begins, without taking into account the geomorphological particularity of this country, which makes it beautiful – beautiful! – but also makes it difficult for the inhabitants, especially in certain areas.
We have, of course, the other issue, the matter of the Courts of First Instance. Central Courts of First Instance, parallel or regional Courts of First Instance. In addition to all the other problems – in a year and a half we will see the closure of the Regional or Parallel Courts of First Instance, because they will not be able to fulfill the purposes for which the bill is made – we also have local rivalries.
Instead of finally taking the leap that this country needs – the institutional, social, etc. – instead of society stepping forward to make the leap, society’s needs are marginalized. Where are we going; Tell me, on what grounds should Kalavryta compete with Aigio, for example. Why should this be done? Why should, in other regions of the country – in Thebes, Atalanti, Aegina, not to mention others – create such local rivalries, which fragment the problems? And what I will always insist on is that for the leap to take place, society needs to feel that it can be mobilized.
I would like to stay in Messolonghi. Really, when we talk too easily and start the historical retrospectives of “the versatile modernization…”, from Venizelos to one, to the other, we forget one thing: That this country also has some great traditions, which we must respect, modernize, to bring them to today, in another way. There is no need to start the “War of Mesolongites-Agriniotes”, who should have and who should not have the Central Court of First Instance. It is barren! Barren and divisive!
I will only say that at the Siege and at the Exodus of Messolonghi, courts of all levels functioned. And the Messolonghi Bar Association is one of the three oldest in the country.
For a bill, therefore, which all the bodies of justice are against, which affects lawyers, the self-employed, the salaried, come and insist. So you’re looking elsewhere and what you’re looking at is the big law firms and how investors are going to be served.
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