Reducing the number of lawmakers

A month after it happened, the rail tragedy in northern Greece still casts a shadow over domestic politics. The government wants, and rightly so, to change the agenda. The prime minister announced in February this year that his government intends to change Article 16 of the Constitution, which does not allow the establishment of private universities in the country - a proposal that has been met with violent reactions for decades. Another radical proposal would be for ministers not be lawmakers at the same time, and to abolish the cross of preference placed before a candidate's name on the party ticket, which creates fertile ground for political favors (both suggestions have been mentioned by other Kathimerini commentators). I will add one more structural proposal: reducing the number of deputies from 300 to 200.

It was suggested in December 2010, at the beginning of Greece's...