These amendments have been highly criticised and issues of unconstitutionality have been raised due to the composition of the Committees inter alia by the Union of Administrative Judges, 394 and the Union of Bar Associations.395 The Administrative Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki, considering an application for annulment with regards to the compliance with the Greek Constitution of the single member/Judge Appeals Committee, sent a question for a preliminary ruling to the Council of State (CoS), whose Plenary Session, following a reference from its Fourth Chamber, ruled by majority, in December 2024, that the provision of Law 4686/2020, which stipulates that the Independent Appeals Committees operate under a one-member composition, is contrary to the Constitution. The CoS also deemed that for reasons of public interest the decision will have to be published and applied after April 2025. After the publication, appeals against decisions of the Asylum Service will not be heard by Independent Appeals Committees with a onemember composition.396 As mentioned above, Appeals Committees are composed of active administrative judges of both First Instance and Administrative Courts of Appeal. However, following the entry into force of the IPA, the responsibility for the judicial review of the second instance decisions issued by the Appeals Committees has been attributed to the First Instance Administrative Courts and thus further issues of constitutionality may occur. In October 2020, the Council of State triggered its pilot procedure upon referral of three cases from the Administrative Court of Athens, supported by RSA, with a view to adjudicating on the constitutionality of the competence of Administrative Courts to judicially review decisions of the Appeals Committees, given that second instance decisions may be – and often are – taken by Committees composed by higher-court judges (Administrative judges of the Administrative Courts of Appeal). 397 In October 2021, the Council of State held by majority that the competence of First Instance Administrative Courts to judicially review decisions of the Appeals Committees, even in cases where the second instance decisions on asylum applications are taken by Committees composed by higher-court judges, is constitutional.398 Specifically, it considered that Appeals Committees are a “collective administrative body” which exercises “competences of a judicial function”, and that judges participate therein not as judicial officials but as “state officials – members of independent authorities of the executive”. First-instance Administrative Courts therefore judicially review decisions by executive bodies, not rulings by judicial officials. Accordingly, the judicial review carried out by lower judges of decisions taken by higher judges was not deemed contrary to the principle of judicial independence and impartiality. 399 The Appeals Authority consisted of 21 Independent Appeals Committees, 400 which were reduced to 20 following JMD 109288/30.04.2024 (Gazette B’ 2602/01.05.2024). EUAA’s role at second instance Since 2017, the law foresees that “in case of a large number of appeals”, the Appeals Committees might be assisted by “rapporteurs” provided by EUAA (at the time, EASO). 401 These rapporteurs have access to the files and are entrusted with drafting a detailed and in-depth report, that will contain a record and 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 Union of Administrative Judges, Υπόμνημα Ενόψει της συζήτησης του σχεδίου νόμου του Υπουργείου Προστασίας του Πολίτη «Περί Διεθνούς Προστασίας και άλλες διατάξεις», 30 October 2019, available in Greek here. Union of Bar Associations, Επιστολή του Προέδρου της Ολομέλειας των Δικηγορικών Συλλόγων προς τον Υπουργό Προστασίας του Πολίτη για το σχέδιο νόμου για τη Διεθνή Προστασία, 25 October 2019, available in Greek here. Ertnews, The Council of State judges the unilateral composition of Independent Appeals Committees in asylum procedures unconstitutional, 03 December 2024, available in Greek here. Council of State, Γνωστοποίηση της υπ' αριθ. 19/12-10-2020 πράξης της Επιτροπής του άρθρου 1 παρ. 1 του ν. 3900/2010, 13 October 2020, available in Greek at https://tinyurl.com/eufakwy5; RSA, The Council of State pilot procedure on judicial review in the asylum procedure, 1 February 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/480b4DN. Council of State, Decision Nr. 1580-1/2021, October 2021. Council of State (Plenary), Decisions 1580/2021 and 1581/2021, 8 October 2021, para. 14. JMD 27290/2020, Gov. Gazette B’4896/6-11-2020. Article 62(6) L 4375/2016, as inserted by Article 101(2) L 4461/2017. 88