Court season extended by one month

The court year has been extended for one month in order to address the increased backlog of cases created by the closure of courts due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

More specifically, according to an amendment tabled in Parliament on Friday by Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras, the courts will remain open until July 16 and the new judicial year will begin on September 1 instead of September 15, when the courts traditionally opened.

According to the content of the amendment, the extension of the judicial year and therefore the reduction of the judicial holidays is considered a necessary move in order to deal with an accumulation of cases.

Courts will open on Monday as a first step by the government to ease lockdown restrictions imposed last month.

Up until now, judicial leave normally began on July 1 and ended on September 15.

Judicial holidays in Greece are among the longest in the European Union.

Several judicial associations and prosecutors’ unions have expressed their opposition to the extension of the judicial year.

For his part, the president of the Legal Council of the State, Ioannis-Constantinos Halkias, has voiced his support for the extension of the judicial year.