Effectiveness Does Not Always Equate to Legislative Quality: The Case of the 15th Parliamentary Term in Greece

In the scientific debate about what quality means in legislation, the opinion has spread that legislation of good quality is synonymous with effective legislation. This article discusses that effectiveness does not always equate to legislative quality. The example of the 15th parliamentary term in Greece, amid the acute debt crisis, is typical. The most intense and numerous phenomena of ‘bad’, unconstitutional law-making in recent Greek parliamentary history were observed during this term. Nevertheless, the effects of this kind of legislation were remarkably positive since all the indicators of the Greek economy improved spectacularly. Yet, anti-democratic legislation is not qualitative legislation; even an authoritarian regime can enact effective laws. In a democratic rule of law, however, the law-making processes, the content, and the form of drafts must follow the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Parliament; the legislature is obliged to produce law by the law. Particularly adherence to the prescribed procedures is of vital importance, as it functions as a guarantee of achieving good legislative quality. After all, no one can foresee the best quality content at the start of the legislative process since it is formed after creative fermentation and balancing of tendencies while following the prescribed procedures.