Council of State: It judges the constitutionality of the recognition of qualifications by the DOATAP

The “microscope” of the plenary enters the constitutionality or not of Law 4957/2022 for the academic recognition of abroad by the DOATAP. This development comes after a decision of the Third Chamber (with Vice President George Cimeca and rapporteur, Mr. Basil Gercho), of the Council of State on the unconstitutionality of the relevant provisions of the foreign educational institutions. According to the judgment of Section III of the Supreme Court, the relevant provisions of Law 4957/2022 “are in conflict with Articles 4(1), 5(1) and 16 of the Constitution which enshrines the principle of full self-government of the AEIs, while by majority, it was considered that paragraphs 3 and 8 of Article 311 violate Article 16 of the Constitution”. In particular, in the 1845/2024 judgment of the seven-member composition it was found that “the provisions of Law 4957/2022, whereby an academic recognition procedure for foreign qualifications is established and the institutions responsible for carrying out the relevant judgments are designated, do not constitute arrangements suitable for the achievement of the purpose pursued by the legislator consisting in finding the intrinsic value of these qualifications and their meaningful comparison with the corresponding qualifications awarded by Greek AEIs.” According to the State consultants, ‘the bodies of the DOATAP entrusted with this competence do not, of course, have the scientific background required for each degree of study submitted in order to give the scientific and technical judgements necessary for such recognition’.