Greece’s political leaders take the floor in parliament shortly after 1 p.m. Friday for a set-piece confrontation over constitutional reform, with no sign that the government and opposition can find enough common ground to push through the changes in this parliament.
The debate has already exposed how far apart the parties remain. Mitsotakis is expected to open by casting the revision as a turning point for the country, while criticizing the opposition, and PASOK in particular. At a recent meeting of the New Democracy parliamentary group, the Prime Minister described the PASOK’s plan to abstain on certain articles by voting “present” as an act of cowardice.
The government has already given ground on one of its own proposals. A provision on the incompatibility of ministerial and parliamentary office, which drew objections from New Democracy’s own lawmakers, has been withdrawn. Evripidis Stylianidis, a senior figure in the governing party, tried to frame the climbdown as evidence of political confidence rather than weakness. A separate provision on the term of the president of the republic has drawn similar reservations within the party, but it has not been pulled.
Greece’s constitution can only be amended through a two-stage process spanning two parliaments. A revision backed by 180 of the 300 deputies in the first parliament binds the next one to enact it. Fall short of that threshold, and the decisions pass to the parliament elected at the next vote, which can shape the final text as it chooses.
PASOK, the center-left party led by Nikos Androulakis, backs some of the proposed changes but has ruled out delivering the 180 votes. Its parliamentary spokesman, Dimitris Mantzos, said the party would not sign blank checks: “voters should settle how the constitution is rewritten when they elect the next parliament”. What his party is after, he said, is a change of government at the ballot box.
Androulakis is expected to accuse the government of refusing genuine dialogue and to press on the issue of the rule of law. PASOK is building its case around three pillars: stronger individual rights, a strengthened welfare state, and more robust institutional checks and balances.
New Democracy’s pushback has also come from Makis Voridis, who chairs the constitutional revision committee. He said PASOK’s position — agreeing with changes yet abstaining rather than voting for them — amounts to political cowardice. Vote for the revision of Article 16, he told the party, and shape it however you want in the next parliament.
A first for SYRIZA’s new leader
Friday also marks a milestone for SYRIZA, the leftist party once led by Alexis Tsipras. Rena Dourou will address the plenary as party president for the first time, taking a hard line against the government and accusing it of rushing the process.
Not all of the friction runs along party lines. Theodoros Skylakakis, a New Democracy deputy, wants Article 110 itself revised — the clause that governs how the constitution can be amended in the first place. Without that, he warned, Greece could spend another decade bound by a charter written for a different era. He urged his own party and the prime minister to move on it, even at this late stage.
The first vote is scheduled for Monday. The next comes after parliament returns from its summer recess in the final days of August.
