Opposition leaders slam rogue government as probes open into Tempe and embezzlement of Recovery Fund funds
The Mitsotakis government has acquired the know-how to “eliminate” everything that does not suit its authoritarianism or that can shed light on its anti-social political choices. She shows it in every step she takes from the first moment she took power, when she brought in regulations for the “staff state” (l’état, c’est moi), for the suffocating cordon of structures of control over “the lives of others” and interventions, as evidenced by the revelation of the wiretapping scandal and the dismantling of public structures. The “blue” officers are still looking for their masks as the cover-up schemes in the Tempe crime case are exposed and new evidence emerges day by day. Now they are removing powers from the European Prosecutor.
According to estimates by legal actors and opposition figures, a provision in the proposed draft law on the judicial charter “neutralizes” the European Public Prosecutor’s jurisdiction over misdemeanor offenses under EU Regulation 2017/1939 concerning fraud against EU financial interests, passive bribery , active bribery, embezzlement, etc. For misdemeanors independently prosecuted, such as e.g. the minister’s breach of duty, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office will not have procedural responsibility for taking witness statements, etc.
Through the investigation into the Tempe crime as well as other important cases (complaints about embezzlement of 2.5 billion euros of Recovery Fund funds from assignments to companies, etc.) by the EU Public Prosecutor’s Office, the government is changing the legal framework that she herself had formulated it only in 2023. It is, if nothing else, politically and morally inadmissible, if it does not even conceal a cover-up in view of research developments.
The government’s attack against the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which linked the Tempe railway tragedy to corruption, unfinished projects and mismanagement of funds, highlighting the responsibilities of the Greek authorities, is fresh. There are still complaints against the government for obstacles to the disclosure of information regarding Tempi, which were publicly expressed by the European Prosecutor Laura Kovesi who is investigating the 717 convention and the crime of Tempi. Obviously, the Mitsotakis government is not planning for nothing. And it’s not surprising. Besides, the government of the ND has reduced to its inherent tactic to “hit” institutional bodies of the EU or even the USA, which it criticizes every day, when they, for whatever reason, denounce problematic situations in Greece regarding issues of the rule of law.
Using the draft law of the Ministry of Justice for the restructuring of the courts, the “blue” officers “remove” the previously applicable provision, removing from the responsibilities of the European Prosecutor the direct supervision and management of the investigative process, including the investigation and collection of evidence for misdemeanors that are prosecuted independently. They are now judged on the basis of the procedural procedures of domestic/national law as it does not exist in the promoted regulation (Article 39) which amends paragraph 2 of Article 16B Law 4786/2021, which let’s not forget that it was formulated by the ND only in 2023 and now it is “releasing”.
In fact, the initiators of the provision put forward in the “analysis of the consequences of the regulation” as a reason for the amendment the acceleration in the administration of justice! At the same time, the government staff say that the change was made in… coordination with the Office of European Prosecutors in Greece for the better functioning of the institution of the European Prosecutor. Something similar was said in the Parliament last Friday by the Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis. However, to the persistent questions of whether there is anything in writing, an email from one of the Greek mandated European Prosecutors was given in the minutes, which, as the New Left MP Dimitris Tzanakopoulos pointed out while speaking in parliament, causes more questions, on the one hand because it was from September 29, 2023, on the other hand, because the crucial thing is whether the European Public Prosecutor knows about it.
The staffs of the opposition parties are already investigating these changes in depth as the study shown by the ND government raises questions, even at a time when important cases of major importance are underway, such as the clearing of the crime of Tempe and the rendering of criminal (and political) responsibilities. With their statements in Documento, representatives of SYRIZA, PASOK and KKE reveal aspects of the government’s goals regarding the… block in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Alexandros Avlonitis (SYRIZA) “In the process it will be seen what pit the fava has”
The MP Alexandros Avlonitis, head of the Justice Department of SYRIZA – PS, describes in black colors the way the ND politicizes and legislates: “Every day the ND signs with its own legislative interventions that its unreliability is excessive and it operates with goals that are not useful the social majority. A short time ago, he had made changes to the institutional framework for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (Article 16B Law 4786/2021 and additions to Article 50 Law 5026/2023), saying at the time that they were made for reasons of equality in order to ensure the same procedural guarantees (such as information , hearing and appeal) to citizens accused of offenses against the financial interests of the European Union in relation to those accused of any other offence. With a new intervention in the draft law on the judicial map, it abolishes all this”.
Adding Al. Avlonitis notes: “A bigger legislative collapse than this has not occurred. Rave law breakers, amendments to laws that take effect (or didn’t even take effect) in a matter of months if not days – in this case a 2023 law is being amended! But reasonable questions are raised about the intentions that may be hidden in the article in question, given that there are cases concerning Greece in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, whatever the reason, such as proper functioning, etc., the government’s interventions in… cutting and sewing and in the dismantling of laws do not end. Rave xilone became their favorite tactic. In the process, it will be more clearly seen “what pit the fava has”, since they will not be referred, contrary to what has been in force until now in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for the independently prosecuted misdemeanors”.
Marinos Skandamis (PASOK) “The amendment is problematic and suspicious”
The head of Citizen Protection at PASOK – KINAL, Marinos Skandamis, points out in Documento that “the legislative initiative to abolish the provision already in force for the criminal prosecution of misdemeanors through the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is taking place in the middle of the European investigation into the crime of Tempe. In fact, after the statements of the head of the higher prosecutor’s office, Laura Kovesi, that she is effectively prohibited from conducting an investigation, the problematic and certainly suspicious nature of the amendment of the law by the government is signaled.” He also observes that “the repeal of the above provision seems to openly undermine the principle of good faith cooperation, which governs the European regulation 2017/1939 applied in our country by Law 4786 of 2021”. At the same time, Mar. Skandamis emphasizes that “the government and the competent minister must give the Parliament sufficient explanations for their legislative initiative and the time they chose to do it. In any case, the ND’s desperate attempt to keep the direction of the judicial investigation away from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is not going to hide any governmental responsibilities. The truth always shines.”
Marina Lavranou (KKE) “Rave Xilone serves purposes”
The KKE, which does not leave the EU and its institutions unscathed, criticizes the ND government harshly. “The raving about the competences of the European Prosecutor on the part of the ND government, this time for the misdemeanors that arise during his investigation and are prosecuted independently, obviously serves its own specific purposes and even under the pretext of speeding up the procedures. Moreover, the attempt to get out of the frame of responsibility for the crime in Tempe manifested itself from the first moment with the obsession of the government officials in highlighting “human error” and “chronic pathologies”. In other words, he followed the favorite tactic of all governments in order not to get to the bottom of the debate,” Marina Lavranou, head of the Department of Justice and People’s Liberties of the Central Committee of the KKE, points out in Documento and adds: “Of course, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is anything but what it present the other parties is, that is, a neutral and incorruptible institution of administration of justice. He also serves his own purposes, which derive from the promotion of EU policy, which, as far as the crime of Tempe is concerned, is related to the policy that sacrifices the necessary security measures on the altar of “eligible expenses”, i.e. profit”.
For M. Lavranou to conclude: “Indeed, this is a dangerous institution with multiple uses, since its responsibilities are constantly expanding, beyond financial frauds and in areas such as the so-called fight against terrorism, which is the well-known pressure to suffocate the people freedoms, for the intensity of the repression at the expense of the labor-popular movements throughout the EU”.
*The article was published in the Documento newspaper on Sunday, April 28, 2024
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#Block #European #Prosecutor #order #shame
