Quality of Greek legislation in decline, report finds

The quality of legislation passed in Greece in the first four months of 2023 declined by almost 5 points compared to the previous year, according to an index published by the Athens-based Center for Liberal Studies.

The Quality of Legislation Index rated the legislative quality of laws passed in Greece from January to April 2023 at 45.66, while the corresponding figure in 2022 was 50.40 and in 2021 49.05.

The report found that laws are passed to satisfy public opinion and not to solve real problems, with the quality of legislation traditionally declining in the run-up to national elections.

While the report found some positive developments, including the decrease in the average number of amendments per law. some 82% of the amendments made to bills in 2023 were unrelated to the main object of the law.

The law with the highest rating in the report was the Immigration Code (law 2023/5038), tabled by former Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis, while the one with the lowest rating was law 2023/5039 on measures supporting the relatives of the victims and those affected by the Tempe train accident, which was tabled by Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis.

The report found that from 2015 until April 2023, Greece enacted a total of over 4,190 pieces of legislation covering 61,000 pages.