Vasilios Peppas

Greek President Prolopis Pavlopoulos returned unsigned the two presidential decrees on the appointment by the previous SYRIZA government of the new prosecutor and president of the Supreme Court.

Since the decrees were not signed by the president, they are considered null and void and therefore are not binding for the government of New Democracy.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos will not sign a presidential decree green-lighting the appointment by the outgoing SYRIZA government of the new prosecutor and president of the Supreme Court, leaving the selection to the administration that will emerge after the July 7 snap election.

Two prominent judicial officials were selected on Friday to replace the outgoing president and prosecutor of the Supreme Court despite intense criticism by legal experts and the political opposition over the legitimacy of the process before a snap election takes place on July 7.

The government's bid for consensus with opposition conservatives over its intention to replace the Supreme Court's president and prosecutor before a snap election on July 7 fell by the wayside on Thursday after its proposal was turned down by New Democracy. 

It appears that the government is determined to proceed with the appointment of a new president and prosecutor of the Supreme Court before a snap election takes place in July, despite the vehement objections expressed on a political, legal and constitutional level.

The government is reportedly faced with a dilemma over whether to proceed with the replacement of the president and top prosecutor of the Supreme Court before or after the snap elections on June 30 that were announced by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras late Sunday.

Greece's Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it has launched the procedure to replace the president and top prosecutor of the Supreme Court who have reached the obligatory retirement age.
According to the Constitution, the maximum age limit for judges is 67 years.

The court's president Vasilios Peppas and prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou will retire in June.