Government evasive on key issue

The leftist government took an evasive stance on a complicated legal issue. It tried, through the remarks of its justice minister, to obscure the fact that the new penal code which was passed shortly before the dissolution of Parliament, will grant convicted members of the now-defunct November 17 urban guerrilla group the right to apply for conditional release. 

Even if one believes that the provision under question is the product of sloppiness – and that the condition that convicts must have served at least 17 years in prison was introduced without careful consideration – its repercussions cannot be disregarded. 

One cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the SYRIZA government rushed to change one of the fundamental laws of the Greek state while ignoring the consequences of such an abrupt transition.