He "cut and sewed" the service plans to appoint a person with less qualifications, while 4 years ago A. Kyprianou categorically denied
This is because it is not just a decision to insult the appointment of a public official, as the Supreme Court is leveraging the President of the Republic for irregular amendment of the terms of the service plan, with the aim of appointing Mr. Socrates to that position. not of the current director of the Parliamentary Committees, Vasiliki Anastasiadou, who, according to the decision, was superior in qualifications.
As it turns out, in January 2008 Dimitris Christofias, being President of the House of Representatives (and two months before he was elected President of the Republic), in three cases "cut and sewed" the service plans, promoting the then director of the Parliamentary International Relations Service. , Socrates Socrates in the position of General Director of Parliament.
The chronicle of an irregular appointment
According to the court decision, “After the retirement of the General Director of the House, Kostakis Christoforou, the then Speaker of the House, Dimitris Christofias, in a letter dated 14/1/2008, requested the appointment of Socrates Socrates to the position of Deputy General Director.
The Public Service Committee (EDY) informed Parliament Speaker D. Christofias that Mr. Socratous could not be appointed to the position because he did not possess the required qualifications and in particular the required qualification of excellent knowledge of the Greek language. Then, the Speaker of the Parliament D. Christofias modified the service plan, replacing the required qualification of the excellent knowledge of Greek with that of very good knowledge. In addition, it further modified the service plan by replacing the position category, from first appointment and promotion position, to promotion position only, while increasing the required at least ten years of experience to fifteen years.
Following the above modification of the service plan, the EDY appointed Mr. Socratous as Deputy General Director of the House of Representatives.
Intense reactions of PA.SY.DY followed. The Speaker of the Parliament, D. Christofias, amended the service plan again, restoring the position to the first appointment and promotion. He also reiterated the provision of the old service plan for the required ten-year experience, but not in a "managerial position" required by the old service plan, but in "administrative / supervisory duties". The provision for a very good knowledge of Greek remained.
The applicant (s.s. Vasiliki Anastasiadou) through a letter of her lawyer to EDY, dated 25/1/2008, protested, emphasizing, among other things, that the amended service plan was made in violation of power ".
As added to the decision, the position was finally announced on 12/9/2008 based on the amended service plans. Both the applicant and Mr. Socrates submitted an application, with the latter finally taking the position.
As a result of this development, the disputed appointment will be brought before the Supreme Court, with Vasiliki Anastasiadou highlighting, among other things, the main reason for the annulment, the fact that she is superior in qualifications.
In her appeal, the applicant raised a number of grounds for annulment, most notably the fact that she was superior to Mr. Socrates in antiquity by four years.
Judicial doubts about irregularities
In his decision, the Judge of the Supreme Court, Frixos Nikolaidis, clearly expresses his doubts as to whether the then Speaker of Parliament D. Christofias had the opportunity to proceed legally to amend the service plan of the Director General of Parliament. "Before proceeding with the examination of the case, I would like to express my doubts as to whether Article 7 of Law 24/61 provides the Speaker of Parliament with the right to amend service plans. The service plans are drawn up by the Council of Ministers and are subject to the approval of Parliament. Article 7 of Law 24/61 authorizes the Speaker of Parliament to regulate the duties of Parliamentary officials.
Article 27 (1) of the Public Service Law of 1990 stipulates that the general duties and responsibilities of a position and the qualifications required for its holding are determined in the service plans drawn up by the Council of Ministers with Regulations approved by Parliament. , in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 87 (3).
I have serious doubts as to whether anyone outside the Council of Ministers is given the power to determine the qualifications for the various positions. In fact, this may have violated the principle of separation of powers. "
Anastasiadou was superior
As for the qualifications of Socrates Socrates and Vasilikis Anastasiadou for this position, the Court clarifies that since both were equivalent in qualifications and value, then the provision of the law should be strictly observed, in relation to the antiquity of the candidate. . "I am of the opinion," Mr. Nikolaidis states in his decision, "taking into account all the information before me, and in particular the fact that on the one hand the two candidates were equal in value and qualifications, with the applicant (s.s. Anastasiadou) to be superior for four whole years in antiquity, while the interested party (s.s. Socratous) to be marginally superior in the interview, I consider that the Committee (s.s. EDY) was mistaken in terms of the importance it gave to the interview and ended up in wrong decision. The choice of a presumably subjective element, such as the impression in the interview, when in fact the difference between two candidates is, in fact, non-existent, against a purely objective, legal criterion, such as antiquity, does not find me in agreement.
Antiquity does not cease to be one of the criteria set by the Law, despite its tendency to degrade. "
"Everything is legal," they have been saying ever since
Vasiliki Anastasiadou's strong reaction to the issue had been growing since then. The statement on January 28, 2008 is indicative (click here to read it) of the then parliamentary representative of AKEL and now General Secretary of the party, Andros Kyprianou that no irregularities had been made in the appointment of Mr. Socrates. As Mr. Kyprianou stated at the time, Dimitris Christofias "acted lawfully and based on the usual procedures."
Click here to see the court decision
Source: SigmaLive.com
