Greek gov’t mulling replacement of top justices before snap poll

The government’s plan to hold a national election on July 7, as announced by spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Tuesday, was seen as an attempt to give it time to replace the president and top prosecutor of the Supreme Court who will step down on June 30, having reached the obligatory retirement age.

However, New Democracy officials insisted the government does not have the moral and political legitimacy to take decisions “that would bind the country in the coming years” as it could soon be swept from power.

Echoing similar sentiments, Michalis Stathopoulos, an academic and former justice minister, told Kathimerini that, even though the “constitution does not formally forbid it, such a move would obviously be unethical.”

Government sources said a final decision on the matter would be made after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ return from Brussels, where he attended an informal dinner of heads of state or government.