In the context of interventions, which will be legislatively concluded by spring, with the aim of their faster adjudication Justicesaid the relevant minister on Thursday, speaking on “N” television.
THE George Floridis explained that since the beginning of the current judicial year, on September 16, two major changes have been implemented, pending for almost a century:
First, the unification of the 1st degree of jurisdiction, with the extinction of the magistrates’ courts and the entry into the 1st degree judicial role of around 1,000 justices of the peace, who will judge as normal judges.
“We expect a lot from this change and in a relatively short space of time the first results will begin to be seen”, said the minister.
The second major change, he noted, which also came into force on September 16, is the change in the way the State Council (Council of State) judges, that is, with the new Procedure, 95 years after its creation in 1929 .
According to Floridis, there will also be a change in the Civil Procedure, “where we will go in measured time, in order to limit the time for issuing decisions in the first and second degree, to around 1/3 of what it is today”.
THE Minister of Justice estimated that the new framework for extrajudicial dispute resolution will be voted on by spring. “We expect many cases to come out of court and be resolved out of court,” he said.
Already, he recalled, the transfer of judicial material to lawyers has been in effect since last June. “This meant that, 3 months after its implementation, more than 10 thousand cases were removed from judges, handed over to lawyers and resolved quickly”, he highlighted.
“The mesh of these interventions that we hope that in a relatively short space of time, together with the digital applications that we now have in the Department of Justice, will give results”, said the minister, citing as an example that in the Criminal Department of the Court of First Instance of Athens , additional cases are currently being tried that we expect will reach 20,000 annually.”
The Tempe Trial
Asked about the trial of the Tempe train accident, the minister explained that the process is delayed because the victims’ families constantly present new requests for investigation, so “these must also be responded to”.
When this “large trial, with 40-50 defendants and 250 lawyers” will begin in Larissa, the judicial authorities know, he continued. As he added, the place for it will be ready in time, “I estimate it will start two years before the accident”, said Floridis.
Changes to inheritance law
Regarding the upcoming changes to the Succession Law, the minister explained that a commission of scientists has already been created to reform it. “Basically it has existed for 80 years, it is time to modernize where necessary”, he highlighted.
As listed, the main changes promoted have to do with inheritance contracts, the security regime in private wills, the protection of cohabitants. “We want to strengthen the authority of the testator himself as much as possible, so that anyone who wants to dispose of their assets has more flexibility in how they will dispose of them.
We also want the greatest possible guarantee for handwritten wills that they are in fact true. That’s what technology gives us the means to do,” Floridis said.