The news that the US President Donald Trump has contracted the coronavirus monopolizes all the major news networks on the planet these days - as well as the way the "planetary ruler" dealt with the disease. However, it has been proven once again what all infectious disease specialists insist on from the beginning: that the virus does not discriminate between presidents, kings or any other leader in relation to ordinary citizens.
The hospitalization of the President of the United States made many wonder: what would happen institutionally in a similar case in our country; What is provided in case the Prime Minister or the President of the Republic (who according to the current Constitution is the head of the Greek state) falls ill or not and they need to be hospitalized; Who replaces them and how does the country continue to be governed?
Each country has different forecasts for this. For example in Great Britain, when he fell ill with coronavirus Prime Minister Boris Johnson and needed to be treated in the Intensive Care Unit, he was replaced in the Prime Minister by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Old Albion, Dominique Raab.
In Greece, however, this does not happen. If the Prime Minister was ill with coronavirus. Kyriakos Mitsotakis First of all, it is most likely that he was not seriously ill as it is a healthy organism, only 52 years old without serious problems.
At the same time, he is not as obese as Mr. Trump and he often exercises by paying attention to his diet. If, nevertheless, the hospitalization was deemed necessary and he was unable to exercise his duties, then he would be replaced by the Deputy Prime Minister, in this case Mr. Panagiotis Pikrammenos, who incidentally served as caretaker Prime Minister from 16 May 2012 until 20 May 2012. with a responsibility to lead the country in the June 2012 elections.
In the absence of a Vice-President, "the Prime Minister shall appoint one of his ministers as his temporary deputy when the need arises," the Constitution explicitly states in Article 81 (5). Usually in this case the duties are temporarily transferred to the first minister. For the record, it should be noted that at the moment the first Minister is Finance Minister Mr. Christos Staikouras, followed by the Minister of Development and Investment Mr. Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Nikos Dendias, the Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis and the Minister of National Defense Nikos Papagiotopoulos.
In case of a significant deterioration in the health of the prime minister, the Constitution provides for a different solution that has been implemented as we will see in the past.
The supreme law of the state in Article 38 paragraph 2 states that "if the Prime Minister resigns, disappears or is unable to perform his duties for health reasons, the President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister nominated by the parliamentary group of the party to which the outgoing Prime Minister belongs. , provided that it has the absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The proposal is made no later than three days after the resignation or eclipse of the Prime Minister or the establishment of his inability to perform his duties. […] The inability of the Prime Minister to exercise his duties for health reasons is established by the Parliament with a special decision taken by an absolute majority of the total number of deputies, following a proposal by the parliamentary group of the party to which the Prime Minister belongs, provided this has the absolute majority of seats in Parliament. In all other cases the proposal shall be tabled by at least two-fifths of the total number of Members (120 Members). "Until the new prime minister is appointed, the duties of the prime minister shall be exercised by the first vice-president in a row and if no vice-presidents have been appointed, the first minister in a row".
In other words, if the health of any prime minister deteriorates to the point that he has no contact with the environment or even worse emigrates to the Lord, then the Parliamentary Group of the first party that has the majority in Parliament (in this case the New Democracy MPs) within three days of the inability to exercise the duties of prime minister, he must vote for a new prime minister (attention, government, not party, because in this case each party has its own statute stating that it changes leader). We had such a case at the beginning of 1996 with Andreas Papandreou.
In particular, since November 1995 the Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was admitted to Onassis with serious health problems. Since Christmas, his condition has worsened even more and so on January 15, 1996, the founder of PASOK signs with a trembling hand from the bed of the cardiac surgery center his resignation letter from the prime minister.
The PASOK parliamentary group is convened on January 18 to elect a new prime minister. Costas Simitis, Akis Tsochatzopoulos and Gerasimos Arsenis are running as candidates. In the first ballot, Akis Tsochatzopoulos and Costas Simitis are tied with 53 votes each, while Gerasimos Arsenis, with 50 votes, is out of contention. In the afternoon of the same day, in the second ballot, Costas Simitis with 86 votes in favor, against 75 of Akis Tsochatzopoulos and 5 whites, is proclaimed the new prime minister and five and a half months later he is proclaimed president of PASOK by the movement's congress. On September 22, 1996 he held early elections and confirmed his rule with a percentage of 41,49%.
And after we have solved the possibility of the Prime Minister being prevented, let's go and see what happens in case the President of the Republic becomes seriously ill, in this case Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Here, too, the current legislation is clear.
Article 34 of the Constitution states verbatim that "the President of the Republic, when he is absent abroad for more than ten days, if he dies, resigns, is declared deposed or if he is prevented for any reason from exercising his duties, is temporarily replaced by the Speaker of Parliament (in this case Mr. Costas Tassoulas). If there is no Parliament, the President of the last Parliament and, if he refuses or does not exist, the government collectively ". It is also stressed that "if the inability of the President of the Republic to exercise his duties is extended beyond thirty days, the Parliament must be convened, even if it has been dissolved, to decide by a three-fifths majority of all its members (180 Members of Parliament), if there is a case of election of a new President.
In any case, the election of a new President of the Republic can not be delayed for more than six months in total, after his replacement began, which was caused by his weakness ".