Athens, Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday proposed reviewing ministers’ legal immunity and the lifelong job security of state-sector workers, aiming to restore voter trust after a graft scandal and build support ahead of a 2027 national election.
Context: graft case and public anger
Mitsotakis’ centre-right government remains ahead in opinion polls but has been shaken by a corruption scandal in which some farmers, aided by state employees, faked land ownership to obtain subsidies. The affair was revealed by EU prosecutors in 2025, and parliament is looking into the case.
Greeks were also angered by the government’s handling of a 2023 train crash that killed 57 people, the country’s worst on record. The crash triggered the biggest mass protests in Greece since a debilitating decade-long debt crisis. A trial opens next month, with protesters demanding full political accountability.
Proposed constitutional revision
In Greece, only parliament can investigate ministers or lift lawmakers’ immunity, according to the four-times-revised 1975 constitution.
“The world of 2026 is different and poses new challenges,” Mitsotakis said in a letter to his 156 deputies in the 300-seat parliament and in a televised address. “The time is ripe for a brave constitutional revision towards a functional democracy.”
State-sector job security and wider issues
To make public administration more efficient, Mitsotakis suggested that the lifelong job security enjoyed by state employees for more than a century should be reviewed to address underperformance.
He said the constitution also needs to address modern challenges including artificial intelligence, affordable housing, the climate crisis, fiscal stability and a slow judicial system, without proposing any specific measures.
Political timeline and approval requirements
Mitsotakis and his party took power in 2019 and were re-elected in 2023 for another four-year term.
For the proposed changes to come into effect, two successive parliaments need to approve them, and an enhanced majority of 180 deputies is required in at least one of the two votes.
What do you think should be prioritised in any constitutional revision in Greece?
