The government is aiming to reduce the time needed to issue final court decisions from 1,500 to 600-650 days by the end of 2027, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated, speaking at the event of the Court of Audit for its digital and energy upgrade.
The prime minister underlined that the acceleration of the administration of Justice is a central goal of the government's planning, noting the reduction in the time needed to issue decisions in the Courts of First Instance from 774 to 386 days.
At the same time, he referred to the case clearance rate, noting that it now reaches 100%.
He also referred to the digital transformation of the Court of Audit, with electronic submission and pre-contractual review of public contracts, the digital filing of legal documents, and the possibility for interested parties to monitor their cases.
He placed particular emphasis on the virtual judge assistant, which uses artificial intelligence to search legislation and case law, clarifying that the final judicial judgment remains exclusively in the hands of the judicial officer.
Finally, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the Recovery Fund's investments in Justice, the operation of the Judicial Police and the need for further digitization of public contracts.
The prime minister's full speech follows:
“Your Beatitude, ladies and gentlemen presidents, dear colleagues in parliament and in government, ladies and gentlemen judges, with great honor, Madam President, I share with you today a day -I believe- truly special for the country's Supreme Fiscal Court, but also for the functioning of Justice and administration overall.
Because the Court of Audit, perhaps the longest-standing institution of the Greek state, which, I want to remind you, operated almost immediately after its establishment, is now taking, as we saw, a very big step of modernization and progress.
Its course begins in 1829, when Ioannis Kapodistrias founded the Accounting and Audit Council against the abuse of public money. In the years that followed it was constitutionally fortified, assuming a central role in the gradual building of the rule of law. Not unjustly, therefore, in our era it is considered the main guardian of sound management and its enduring guarantor.
Today, therefore, the Council is entering a new era, with a dual transformation, digital and environmental, acquiring a renewed and energy-autonomous headquarters, since the facilities hosting it since 2003 essentially never received the required interventions and adjustments and, in addition, being strengthened with new staff and technical means, so that it may better serve its mission.
At the same time, however -and I want to dwell particularly on this dimension-, together with the new infrastructure, we are inaugurating a new digital everyday reality, which the judges of the Court of Audit have already experienced for about a year now. This modern information system, which interconnects the Court of Audit with all civil, criminal and administrative courts, with ministries, with municipalities, with regions, with organizations. Thus from now on the administration will be in direct communication with its auditing mechanism.
The submission and pre-contractual review of major public contracts is already being done digitally, as is the filing of legal documents by lawyers and litigants, while interested parties, as we saw, will be able to monitor the progress of their cases, receiving the decisions at the end simply and easily, from their computer. A change that ultimately opens the way to the next step as well, that of the digital trial.
And of course, on an independent electronic portal every citizen will now be able to report, even anonymously, cases of mismanagement of public money, always of course with the necessary safeguards.
But I want to dwell particularly on the very important innovation, that of the virtual judge assistant, which now in practice turns artificial intelligence from an abstract concept into a useful, necessary aid to Justice, as is happening in many countries. In this way, the search for legislation and case law becomes much faster, and the classification of cases is also assisted.
And of course, I want to dwell on what was said earlier and which concerns the administration as a whole, Mr. Minister of Digital Governance, ladies and gentlemen ministers. The question is not whether we will make use of artificial intelligence, but in what way this will be done, at what speed, with what safeguards.
And of course, here, in the case of Justice, the clarification is necessary and absolutely clear: the final decision remains non-negotiably in the hands, in the mind, in the empathy I dare say, and in the conscience of the judicial officer. Technology for you but also for us is an assistant, an adviser, but never a substitute.
Let me open a parenthesis: already in the world of advanced Artificial Intelligence models, Your Beatitude, there is a major discussion about whether artificial intelligence can ever have consciousness. I do not belong to the category of those who believe that we can ever reach this level.
However, I am pleased because it seems that here, at the Court of Audit, you have found a proper balance, Madam President, so as to understand the usefulness but also the limits of these artificial intelligence tools, as a catalyst for improving your productivity, but never as a substitute for the judge's judgment.
And I am pleased, because I see young male and female judges who are familiar with technology, but also with an absolute sense of duty and of their own role in the critical function of the administration of justice.
These, therefore, are all bold interventions, which, however, I want to emphasize are not, as the minister also said, not isolated. Although the Court of Audit is not only a supreme court, it is also a supreme institution of fiscal control, these interventions that you spoke about and that we spoke about today are connected with the overall plan, whose goal is for Greek Justice soon to be administered even more correctly, even more promptly.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, for raising even higher the bar of our goals and ambitions for the progress we want to achieve in the coming years, provided that the Greek people trust us again.
We want, in any case, looking to the immediate future, by the end of 2027, Mr. Minister, Mr. Deputy Minister, for the time needed to issue a final decision to fall from 1,500 days to 600 to 650 days, so that we finally reach the European average. We know that already in the Courts of First Instance this time has already been reduced significantly, from 774 to 386 days, while the case clearance rate now reaches 100%.
I want to dwell on and repeat once again how important a reform the implementation of the new judicial map was, with the merger of the Magistrates' Courts and the Courts of First Instance. A reform that had been sought by many governments in the past was implemented, however, in consultation with the world of Justice as well as with local communities, with very great effectiveness.
This reform is already beginning to show significant results. To this let me add the new Codes with stricter deadlines, the digitization of procedures, the abolition of unnecessary bureaucracy, the speed, for example, with which we can now settle cadastral disputes, the very important intervention that was made in inheritance law.
Until recently, 60 weeks of hardship before a will could be published. Now this can be done within at most three 24-hour periods. So we are talking about initiatives that bring tangible results.
And of course, many of these were co-financed by the Recovery Fund. The ministry completed 24 milestones in a timely and punctual manner. You absorbed a total of more than 360 million euros. Very significant investments in the largest program of construction and upgrading of public facilities ever undertaken.
Not only the intervention we see here at the Court of Audit, at the Council of State -we had been there a few months ago-, at the Athens Court of Appeal, at the National School of Judicial Officers, the new Piraeus Judicial Palace, perhaps the most emblematic new investment in a Justice structure, which we will have the opportunity to inaugurate in the coming months, interventions in many administrative and civil courts.
And of course, I want to repeat here what the minister also said. Madam President, fully respecting the institutional independence of the Court of Audit and the distinct roles of government and judicial power, I want to thank you for the excellent cooperation we had for the timely completion of the Recovery Fund, without losing a single euro of European resources.
I think that the presence at today's event of all the government's top ministers, especially those who had to manage important projects and "heavy" tender procedures, which also involved the Court of Audit, is in practice also a tangible expression of thanks and recognition for the role you played, in being able to complete your mission with transparency, but also with speed.
Let me open here, if you allow me, a parenthesis: it was not at all self-evident that the country would be able to achieve this goal. In fact, I can tell you that when the Recovery Fund was agreed and designed, in 2020, somewhere in the minds of the "frugal" countries, those that always viewed the direction of many European resources toward the countries of the south with skepticism, there was also the hidden expectation that perhaps in the end we would not manage to absorb all the European resources.
But we proved them wrong, and in this, in this great national success, because it is indeed a national success, the Court of Audit also played its own important role.
And of course, let me also dwell on the reinforcements concerning human resources. On the operation of the Judicial Police, we saw it, after all, lined up as we arrived at this very beautiful event, another pending issue of decades. You had been waiting for it for many years, it had remained on paper, now it is already in full operational deployment.
But, of course, for us the most important investment is the investment in the most critical link in the chain, which is none other than the people of Justice, not only by ensuring that salaries increase, always in line with the budget's endurance, but above all by placing emphasis on their education and training. Moreover, an initiative of this government is also the new reward system for judicial employees.
It is therefore not accidental, ladies and gentlemen, the continuous upgrading of Greece, in the indicators concerning the rule of law, in the reports of the European Commission, no matter how much the opposition wants to turn "white into black".
Allow me also a personal reference: when the opposition attacks the government unjustly on issues of the rule of law, it indirectly attacks you as well, it attacks Justice as well. I believe that this is unfair criticism, which is why it is very important to acknowledge with -I would say- generosity the progress we have achieved, but also with courage to dwell on the many things that still need to be done. Because many more things still need to be done. Deep cuts in the state require time, consistency and continuity, they require a reform plan, they require stability, so that this may become reality.
And of course, the progress we must achieve requires something else important as well: it requires truth. It is an important element when we speak about sound administration, about its oversight, about the management of public money, about the response we must give to unfounded claims, such as, for example, figures that are heard about the number of direct awards, when we all know that most of these concern very small awards and primarily local government bodies and not the government.
I think it is important that any criticism always be placed on its proper basis and, when Justice is also involved, that we try at least to fence it off and keep it away from the field of party confrontations.
Clearly -and let me close with this- there is always room for improvement, especially I would say, Madam President, in the field of public contracts. Artificial intelligence can, I believe, help us even more; with initiatives such as the aggregation of needs, the state can achieve better prices and economies of scale. And AI can help us even more through digital checks in the automatic -possibly- detection of phenomena of splitting or abusive recourse to direct awards.
We still have many things to do in order to make use, for the benefit of the common good, of the tools that artificial intelligence offers us.
So, with these thoughts, let me thank you again for the invitation, congratulate you on this important event and repeat that today the Court of Audit has every reason to look to the future with greater optimism, with the state, always respecting the independence of judicial judgment, as an ally in your efforts so that the Court of Audit may be able to respond to the challenges of times that are changing with such great speed.
Thank you very much”.