CoS to rule on constitutionality of memorandum

A Council of State (CoS) plenum will convene on Tuesday to hear civil suits brought by trade unions against wage cuts and austerity measures imposed this year by the government.

The civil suits challenge the memorandum, signed with the EU-ECB-IMF “troika”, as being unconstitutional, illegal and in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The two CoS legal rapporteurs assigned to study the civil lawsuits are expected to recommend their rejection on the grounds that the memorandum (Law No. 3845/2010) is constitutional and in compliance with European and international legislation.

The civil suit, suggesting that Law No. 3845/2010 is not legitimate because when it was passed in Parliament without the necessary majority vote (3/5 of all the 300 MPs), will be ruled as unacceptable, because it is based on the incorrect assumption that the memorandum is an international treaty, according to reports. The CoS rapporteurs are expected to maintain that no authority is being surrendered to bodies of international organisations, and that national sovereignty is not affected.

As regards the civil suit against the wage and benefits cuts, the CoS rapporteurs will maintain that such moves are justified to protect the higher public good and placed within the framework of the need to cut the country’s excessive fiscal deficit and external debt — in response to obligations Greece has undertaken within the framework of Economic and Monetary Union.

Civil suits against the cuts in wages and benefits and others opposing the memorandum — the linchpin of a 110-billion-euro Eurozone bailout — have been filed by the Athens Bar Association, civil servants’ union ADEDY, the journalists’ union ESΙEA, pensioners’ associations and others.