constitutional.403 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. 404 The Appeals Authority consisted of 21 Independent Appeals Committees, 405 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). 406 These rapporteurs have access to the files and are entrusted with drafting a detailed and in-depth report, that will contain a record and statement of the facts of the case along with the main claims of the appellant, as well as a matching of said claims (αντιστοίχιση ισχυρισμών) with the country of origin information that will be presented before the competent Committee in order to decide. 407 Both the IPA and the Asylum Code have maintained the same tasks for “rapporteurs” provided by EUAA. 408 However, according to the IPA, this is not only foreseen “in case of a large number of appeals”. Articles 95(4) IPA and 100 (4) Asylum Code provides that each member of the Appeals Committee may be assisted by “rapporteurs” provided by EUAA. As of 31 December 2021, 20 Rapporteurs were assisting the Appeals Committees members pursuant to Art. 95(4) IPA.409 Since they are seconded to the individual Committees, these Rapporteurs are not supervised or line-managed by EUAA.410 Data on the number of Rapporteurs during 2024 was not published by the MoMA, while the EUAA operational plan for Greece for the period of 2022-2024, only makes reference to 1 administrative officer and 7 operations/administrative assistants, with regards to the Agency’s support towards the Appeals Authority.411 Number of appeals and recognition rates at second instance A total of 12,039 appeals were lodged against Asylum Service decisions throughout Greece in 2024, of which 11,244 on the mainland and 795 on the islands.412 The Independent Appeals Committees handed down a total of 12,911 decisions in 2024 (an additional 393 cases where implicitly/explicitly withdrawn or archived).413 Decisions by the Independent Appeals Committees: 2024 Refugee status Subsidiary protection Rejected Inadmissible 563 107 7,627 4,588 Source: MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 - International Protection | Appendix A, table 8b, available at: https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/. An additional 26 appeals against decisions revoking protection status were accepted. As in previous years,414 the recognition rate at second instance remained exceptionally low. Out of the 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 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. Article 62(6) L 4375/2016, Article 95(5) IPA. Article 62(6) L 4375/2016, Article 95(5) IPA, Article 100(5) Asylum Code. Information provided by the Appeals Authority, 11 March 2022. ECRE, The role of EASO operations in national asylum systems, November 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2VNULrd, p. 18. EUAA, Operational Plan (2022-2024) for Greece, Amendment 3, 29 April 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2wsf3vap, 20. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 – International Protection | Appendix A, available in Greek here, table 9a. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2024 – International Protection | Appendix A, available in Greek here, table 8b. See previous AIDA reports on Greece, available here. 82