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Important Developments at Constitutional and Statutory Level
- an article by Sophia Spiliotopoulos -
1. By an overwhelming majority, the Greek Parliament adopted a constitutional provision on positive action
On 6 April 2001, the Greek Parliament completed the revision of the Constitution, which had started in September 2000 following a relevant resolution of the former Parliament. According to Article 110 of the Constitution, the need for a constitutional revision has to be ascertained by a resolution of Parliament specifically defining the provisions to be revised. The next Parliament has to proceed with the revision of these provisions, without, however, being bound by the former Parliament’s resolution as to the content of the amendments. Among the amendments adopted is one by which a constitutional provision allowing derogations from the constitutional gender equality principle [Article 4(2)] was replaced by a provision on positive action. This amendment was adopted by an overwhelming majority (it obtained 275 out of 280 votes). As a result, the new Article 116(2) of the Constitution reads now as follows:
«Positive measures for the promotion of equality between men and women do not constitute gender discrimination. The State is committed to abolish inequalities which exist in practice, in particular those which are detrimental to women.»
This amendment is, to a considerable extent, the result of a long campaign of Greek women’s NGOs. More particularly:
As reported in Bulletin No 2/2000 (p. 38-40 and 46), some years ago, the Hellenic League for Women’s Rights had started a campaign, which had met with the support of many women’s NGOs and women politicians, for the replacement of Article 116(2) of the Constitution, which allowed derogations from the constitutional gender equality norm [Article 4(2)], by a constitutional provision on positive action. This campaign resulted in the almost unanimous adoption by the Greek Parliament of a resolution to proceed with this replacement.
The new Parliament which resulted from the elections of April 2000 set up a Parliamentary Committee whose task it was to elaborate draft amendments to be submitted to the Plenum for a final decision. On 9 October 2000 the Hellenic League for Women’s Rights, in collaboration with the Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights and the General Secretariat for Equality, organised a panel with the participation of a vice-president of the Greek Supreme Administrative Court (Council of State), members of the above Parliamentary Committee from all parties, and academics, which had a large and high level audience (presidents, vice-presidents and members of Greek Supreme Courts, academics and lawyers) and a wide coverage in the press.
At this panel, the League presented a proposal for the wording of Article 116(2) which was inspired by Article 4(1) of the CEDAW and Article 141(4) EC Treaty in conjunction with Articles 2 and 3(2) EC Treaty and Declaration No 28 annexed to the Treaty, as well as by other Member States’ Constitutions, in particular those of Germany [Article 3(2)], Austria [Article 7(2)] and Portugal [Article 9 (h)]. The representatives of the League also stressed that a “constitutional tradition common to the Member States”, which, according to Article 6(2) EU Treaty was a source of fundamental rights, was being formed, since the number of Member States whose Constitutions guaranteed substantive gender equality and provided for positive action, was constantly growing. These were, in addition to the aforementioned ones, the Constitutions of Finland [Section 6(4)], Sweden [Section 2(16)] and France [Articles 3 and 4], as well as a draft provision of the Constitution of Luxembourg.
After a lively debate, almost all panellists agreed with the League’s proposal. The rapporteur of the majority in Parliament, Professor E. Venizelos, finally agreed to accept the League’s proposal, if it corresponded to the wishes of women’s NGOs. The next day, the League’s proposal was endorsed by 22 women’s NGOs and was formally submitted to the Parliamentary Committee.
As a result of these efforts, the wording of the final draft of Article 116(2), which was unanimously adopted by the Parliamentary Committee, was almost identical to the wording of the above proposal. It is that same wording that has now been definitively adopted by an overwhelming majority of the Plenum of the Parliament.
Thus, Greece is contributing to the formation of a “constitutional tradition common to the Member States” on substantive gender equality and positive action.
2. A very recent statutory provision aiming at increasing the participation of women in local government
A provision aiming at increasing the participation of women in local government councils has been very recently adopted by Parliament. According to this provision:
“The number of candidate members of local government councils of each sex shall correspond to one third of the total number of candidates appearing on each ballot.”
It is stated in the explanatory memorandum to the relevant bill that this provision aims at implementing Recommendation 96/694/EC on the balanced participation of women and men in the decision-making process (OJ. L 319, 10/12/1996 p. 11–15) and the Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005). It is also underlined that this provision comes after Article 6 of Act 2839/2000, adopted last summer, which provided that among persons who are appointed by the State as members of service councils of the public service, local authorities and other legal persons governed by public law, at least one third should belong to each sex; the same applies, according the same provision, to the members of the boards of legal persons of the public sector, who are appointed by the State, local authorities or other legal persons of public law (see Bulletin No 2/2000, p. 44-45). It is moreover stressed that women are still under-represented in the decision-making organs and that formal gender equality is not enough; substantive equality is required, which cannot be achieved without positive measures. Positive measures do not constitute derogations from the gender equality principle, but measures which are necessary for its effective implementation.
It should be noted that the candidates in local government elections (just like the candidates in parliamentary elections, except those appearing on a special ballot which is presented by each party in the whole country) appear on a ballot on which the voter chooses his/her preferred candidate by putting a cross besides his/her name.
It is thus obvious that the number of women who will be elected will depend on the voters’ choice and on the support of the party.
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