Filenews 1 December 2025 - by Michalis Chatzivasilis
Parliament seems ready for the changes in the law concerning public gatherings and at the beginning of January the article-by-article discussion of the law proposal will begin so that it can be brought before the Plenary for a vote.
The issue of the gatherings was discussed today at an extraordinary session of the Parliament's Legal Committee, since there seems to have been an agreement to a large extent between the Minister of Justice and MP Irini Charalambidou on the changes set by the proposed law, which are in line with the OSCE opinion.
After this development, it seems that the law proposal of AKEL MPs Aristos Damianos, Giorgos Koukoumas and Andreas Pasiourtidis, who proposed the complete abolition of the law that was recently passed, after the incidents outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is not proceeding.
As MP Irini Charalambidou told Filenews, her proposal is based on the recommendations proposed by the OSCE, in order to make the legislation compatible with international conventions on human rights. She welcomed the positive stance taken on the issue by the Minister of Justice Marios Hartsiotis himself and the chairman of the Legal Committee Nikos Tornaritis, so that the issue could be discussed in an extraordinary session.
Basically, he said, the proposal is fully in line with democratic values and human rights in the EU and as provided for by the UN. She stressed that 80% of her suggestions for changes are accepted. Some individual differences remain which were examined immediately after the meeting of the Committee and it seems that there is full agreement. As he said, one of the changes will concern the issue of the hood, so that in order for the Police to demand that someone remove it, they will have to move violently and endanger lives or property.
In the Committee, the representative of the Ministry of Justice, Phaedra Grigoriou, stated that since September, when the OSCE opinion was made public, the ministry has studied it and in cooperation with the Legal Service and experts, prepared a bill, based on the recommendations of the international organization, in which it also incorporated the comments of the Police, while waiting for the position of the Commissioner for Legislation and the Commissioner for Administration to proceed. "What we have prepared is quite similar to Ms. Charalambidou's law proposal," he said.
Ms. Grigoriou noted that the changes brought about by the bill make it clear that the organizer of the demonstrations is not responsible for anything, although this was clarified by law, since there are no sanctions. He noted that, in relation to Ms. Charalambidou's proposal, the Ministry still disagrees on 2-3 points. Briefly, he referred to the removal of definitions of public order and public morals, noting that these exist in the Constitution and the ECHR. Besides, he noted, the definition of the word "morals" after 20 years may be outdated and it is up to the court to interpret it. He also noted that the law does not prohibit gatherings, it only sets restrictions.
Another issue, on which the Ministry of Justice disagrees in relation to Ms. Charalambidou's proposal, is the abolition of the determination of 20 people for the need for notification. Ms. Grigoriou argued that the number is mentioned for convenience, as notification is not mandatory. "We don't mind the number going down to 0, but this will further limit the right, as probably a group of 5 people protesting will consider that they have an obligation to notify," he said.
The representative of the Legal Service, Alexis Antoniadis, said that the Legal Service considers that Ms. Charalambidou's law proposal is moving in the right direction, noting that there are points that need legislative improvement.
In his intervention, AKEL MP Andreas Pasiourtidis noted that this law has the peculiarity that it is not an effective remedy to go to court, in case someone decides that he must disperse a demonstration. "For a court to vindicate me after two years for a demonstration that broke up, I am not legally satisfied," he said.
The chairman of the Committee, DISY MP, Nikos Tornaritis, said that the Legal Committee will not wait for the government's bill. It is, however, a prerequisite, he said, for there to be an understanding between Irene Charalambidou and the Ministry of Justice, the Legal Service, the Commissioner for Legislation and Professor Konstantinidis, to co-decide on the final text. "We declare absolute respect for the suggestions of international organizations and say that we cannot, because we disagree with a part of a proposal, submit proposals for its abolition," he said.
In his statements after the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Tornaritis said that "we will not support AKEL's proposal to abolish the legislation", noting that AKEL submitted amendments at the last minute to the Plenary and not to the Committee to be discussed. "Always respecting the positions, decisions and opinions of international organizations, we will move within this framework," he said.
Finally, AKEL MP, Andreas Pasiourtidis, expressed his surprise at the prima facie positive position of the institutions, as "99% of what the OSCE said and included in the law proposal were positions raised during the discussion of the bill in the Legal Committee. I am surprised because at that time we met with a very strong reaction from the executive and they did not accept anything. Should an international organization pull your ear and not the MPs and the parties?", he asked, noting that productive time is wasted.
