Claiming the withdrawal of the bill that “removes” 113 judicial services from the map, the court employees of Larissa participated in yesterday’s strike mobilization of the sector.
According to the Larissa Association, “the government put the bill on the judicial map for consultation and is preparing to bring it to the Parliament a few days before Easter. The bill does not deal with any of the perennial problems of the judicial services, the tragic understaffing, the significant deficiencies in infrastructure, the low salaries of judicial officers, all kinds of obstacles to citizens’ access to justice. On the contrary, the bill is a reactionary piece – part of a wider puzzle (which is being completed piece by piece), it is against the needs of the social majority and will further harm the rights of judicial officers as well as those “dealing” with Justice.
The Peace Courts will be abolished throughout the country, a total of 113 judicial services will be “erased” from the map as independent services based on the “cost-benefit” criterion. The organizational positions of the judicial officers of the abolished – merged services will be transferred to the local central Courts of First Instance. This means that all court officials will be potentially mobile – nomads wherever and whenever needed.
The government presents as an “upgrade” that some Magistrates’ Courts will be converted into “Regional Courts of First Instance” with increased material. What doesn’t he say? That the “Regional Courts of First Instance” will not, in essence, have permanent employees, while among the “upgrading” Magistrates’ Courts there are some that have no employees at all (e.g. Thassos) or 1-2 employees (e.g. Limnos, Beauty of Lesvos).
The bill “responds” to the needs of investors and business groups. In other words, the “acceleration” concerns the few, while for the many the delays will continue and increase. It is no coincidence, after all, that this specific bill is a prerequisite for the anti-popular Recovery Fund. We judicial employees are the only ones in the field of justice who see their salaries fixed in the pre-memorandum era, without our particularly difficult-special working conditions being recognized in practice. We are fighting for all judicial services to remain open, to be strengthened with staff and infrastructure. This will improve the conditions for serving the citizens. The bill should not be submitted to Parliament!
