Government withdraws Manitakis article

The decision to withdraw the article was taken after aides of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras contacted the head of the Democratic Left (DIM.AR) party Fotis Kouvelis, who leads one of the two junior parties supporting the coalition government, and DIM.AR’s leader then contacted the two ministers involved in the dispute. According to the government

secretariat, the measure will be tabled once more after Easter with new wording that ensures the consent of all parties in the coalition government. An official government announcement with further clarifications is pending.

Commenting on the issue during a press conference held in Brussels, where he is currently on a visit, Kouvelis said the problem arose due to the long delays before final court orders were issued, which meant that court rulings envisaged as temporary effectively lasted several years.

“Those dismissed from their jobs – not only now but in the past – have the option, in accordance with the law, to resort to the courts and through a temporary order, provided this is issued by the court, to return to their jobs until there is a final judgement on the suit they have filed,” he said.

However, DIM.AR’s leader continued, these temporary orders had effectively lost their temporary nature in the sense that a final ruling in a case often took several years to be issued. The solution, according to Kouvelis, was to retain the temporary orders suspending an employee’s dismissal – which were an element of providing a legal process – but introduce a special legislative measure that specified a final date by which court rulings settling the employer-employee dispute had to be issued, including those between contract workers and the Greek state.

Roupakiotis, who is one of the ministers included in the cabinet at DIM.AR’s request, had earlier repeated his refusal to sign the draft legislation prepared by Manitakis. The proposed measure, which would have been effectively backdated to cover previous temporary court orders, affected a large number of contract workers disputing their dismissal from public sector jobs.

The justice minister had categorically ruled out support for the legislation and refused his consent to any attempt to pass the measures without his signature. Outlining the reasons for Roupakiotis’ objections, his aides claimed that these concerned issues of “substance, since there is an attempt to abolish any remaining elements of the rule of law and because there was a machination at the expense of the justice ministry, at the time when it contributes to the cohesion of the government”.

Source: ΑΜΝΑ