The Greek constitutional amendments of 2001

In 2001 the Greek Parliament brought about extensive amendments to the 1975/1986 Constitution. It is not clear why it was thought necessary to proceed to an amendment on such an unusual scale, since the two largest political parties supporting the amendment, the ruling socialist party PaSoK and the conservative New Democracy, were in agreement that the 1975 constitution had worked smoothly throughout its history. It appears that the original plans for an amendment, as conceived by the ageing leaders Andreas Papandreou and later Constantinos Mitsotakis, were driven by their separate but parallel intentions to strengthen the Executive over any other sources of power including Parliament and the courts. It is an interesting feature of the Greek political system that these plans largely failed. Parliamentarians of both parties ensured that the amended constitution did not alter the constitutional practice of the last 25 years.