Constitutional Law / Droit constitutionnel
Greece / GrÈce
Andreas I. Pottakis
PhD in Law (Oxon), Attorney at Law, Deputy Director of the Academy of European Public Law
The revision process of the Hellenic Constitution has, since the last parliamentary elections of September 2007, entered its second - and final - stage. This, final, stage has to be completed by the end of the first parliamentary session, before the summer of 2008. Among the various constitutional Articles and clauses that the previous parliamentary synthesis has voted for amendment, and by far the most controversial, is the revision of Article 16, the Article on Higher Education. This contribution aims at exploring the parliamentary debate on the revision of Art. 16 of the Hellenic Constitution in the light of, on the one hand, the policy objectives, priorities and targets set by the EU and, on the other, domestic political frictions, exhibited especially during the discussion of Law 3549/2007 and the ensuing turmoil it provoked.