Reducing the number of lawmakers
A month after it happened, the rail tragedy in northern Greece still casts a shadow over domestic politics. The government wants, and rightly so, to change the agenda. The prime minister announced in February this year that his government intends to change Article 16 of the Constitution, which does not allow the establishment of private universities in the country – a proposal that has been met with violent reactions for decades. Another radical proposal would be for ministers not be lawmakers at the same time, and to abolish the cross of preference placed before a candidate’s name on the party ticket, which creates fertile ground for political favors (both suggestions have been mentioned by other Kathimerini commentators). I will add one more structural proposal: reducing the number of deputies from 300 to 200.
It was suggested in December 2010, at the beginning of Greece’s debt crisis, by the then infrastructure minister of PASOK, Dimitris Reppas, as a way of reducing government spending. He was preceded by New Democracy’s Dimitris Avramopoulos in 1999. The former prime ministers Giorgos Papandreou (PASOK) and Antonis Samaras (ND) had also proposed the same change. The latter proposed it twice: in 2011 and 2014 as prime minister, with the consent of the then vice president of the government, Evangelos Venizelos (PASOK). It was also submitted to the Parliament as a legislative proposal by the Democratic Alliance, a party founded by former conservative foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis in February 2012.
A change in the number of lawmakers would allow them to focus on representing the nation instead of focusing on their constituents
On May 4, 2014, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was then minister of administrative reform, stated in an interview: “Over the years – when the entire political system showed indifference – I have tabled a series of proposals for immediate implementation, which do not require a constitutional review, with the main one being the reduction of [the number of] MPs from 300 to 200.”
On December 1, 2015, the liberal party Potami held a one-day conference in central Athens on this very issue. It was followed by the Union of Centrists and former PASOK minister and European commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou in 2017. Since then the issue has been forgotten, but we were reminded of it by Germany which, two weeks ago, reduced the number of its MPs from 736 to 630. Hungary had already reduced it in 2012 from 386 to 199. And the four EU countries with a similar population to Greece (Portugal with 10.3 million, Austria with 9 million, Belgium with 11.7 million, and the Netherlands with 17.8 million) have 230, 183, 150 and 150 MPs, respectively.
It is difficult to convince MPs to vote for their “decimation.” However, such a reform is a response to the growing distrust toward the parliamentary system, because it would allow lawmakers to focus on representing the nation and not just their constituents. If Prime Minister Mitsotakis introduces it to Parliament, he will prove that he means what he says. It will also test the responsibility of all political parties.
