Greece Parliament Toughens Law on Domestic Violence
Source: Balkan Insight
A new domestic violence bill passed by the Greek parliament on Friday focuses on addressing new forms of cyber violence, violence against women and protecting victims of domestic violence; 157 MPs voted in favour of the bill and 135 against.
The new law imposes house arrest on perpetrators when restrictive conditions are not deemed sufficient and shortens the length of trials for domestic violence.
Opposition centre-left PASOK MP Christina Staraka criticised the bill, saying the government of the centre-right New Democracy party put too much emphasis on punishment and repression rather than prevention.
“It is not interested in protecting victims of domestic violence. It is interested in showing society that it is taking revenge on the perpetrators,” Staraka said, adding: “The ongoing tightening of the legal framework in your time [in office] is ineffective, as crime, domestic violence and femicide are increasing.”
The bill, which is an adaption of European Directive 2024/1385, was put up for public consultation from December 4, 2024 until January 7, 2025. But some civil society groups criticised the lack of consultation with scientific bodies.
Diotima, a centre for gender rights and equality in Athens, criticised the process.
“The procedure followed is not only an example of a democratic deficit but also diminishes the effectiveness of the overall legislative initiative,” Diotima said in a statement.
One of its main objections is that the bill does not follow the EU directive, which it said “places particular emphasis on holistic and long-term policies for the prevention and fight against gender-based violence, through interrelated measures of awareness-raising, protection of victims, their access to justice, data collection, and cross-sectoral cooperation.
“On the contrary, it exclusively favours the criminal treatment of the phenomenon, primarily rewarding repressive practices … and stricter penalties,” said Diotima. It also noted that the draft law does not criminalise femicide, which the EU directive does.
Greek police reported that in the first ten months of 2023, 9,860 incidents of domestic violence were reported, while the number in 2024 rose to 18,427.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
