The Amendment of 2001 constituted the most important amendment of the Constitution

Constitution of Greece

The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...

 of 1975. The Amendment

Greek Constitutional amendment of 1986

The Greek Constitutional amendment of 1986 was based on the previously increased responsibilities of the President of the Republic. Despite the fact that the "increased" responsibilities of the President of the Republic were never exercised until 1986, by virtue of their mere existence they...

 of 1986 was much more limited, as it led to the modification of just a few articles concerning the President's powers.

The parliamentary procedure inaugurating the process of the Amendment was initiated by the government of PASOK

Panhellenic Socialist Movement

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...

 and prime minister, Costas Simitis

Costas Simitis

Konstantinos Simitis , usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis, was Prime Minister of Greece and leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement from 1996 to 2004.- Biography :...

, in 1998. Three years later the 7th Revisionary Parliament decided on 83 proposed amendments and rejected only 4 of them. Only 7 of the proposed amendments demanded a majority of 3/5. The 3/5 majority was already achieved for the other 76 proposals during the initial vote before the legislative elections of 2000. The amendment was officially concluded the 17th of April 2001.

Some of the most important modifications were the following:

• Recognition of new Constitutional rights, such as the protection of personal data or the access to the information.
• Constitutional recognition of 5 Independent authorities.
• Addition of new provisions for the transparency of the operation of mass media
  Mass media
  Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
  
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• Constitutional consolidation of the doctrines of Proportionality and Vertical power of human rights.
• Provision of stringent preconditions for the modification of the electoral law
  Elections in Greece
  Elections in Greece gives information on election and election results in Greece.-Election of the legislature:The Greek Parliament has 300 members, elected for a four-year term by a system of 'reinforced' proportional representation in 56 constituencies, 48 of which are multi-seat and 8 single-seat...
  
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• Prohibition of any professional occupation of the members of the Hellenic Parliament.
• Provision of a special organ, which will control any expenditure of the candidates during the elections.
• The creation of new consultative organs of the executive branch.
• The adoption of a new legislative framework for the criminal prosecution of the members of the Cabinet
  Cabinet of Greece
  The cabinet of Greece , officially called the Ministerial Council , constitutes the Government of Greece. It is the collective decision-making body of the Hellenic Republic, composed of the Prime Minister and the Ministers...
  
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• The re-organization of the operation of the Parliament through the strengthening of the role of the parliamentary committees.
• The adoption of a 4-year term for all the heads of the Supreme Courts.
• The adoption of new provisions concerning the constitutional control of laws.