The proposal to make the status of minister incompatible with that of MP, as well as the possibility of reducing the number of MPs, was raised in the public debate by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Pavlos Marinakis, with the changes being timed after the 2027 elections and linked to the need for constitutional revision.

In practice, the proposal provides that an elected member of parliament who takes up a cabinet position will temporarily relinquish his or her parliamentary status and be replaced by the first runner-up in his or her constituency. If he or she leaves the government, he or she will automatically return to the Parliament, with the runner-up resigning accordingly.

This arrangement, it is said, aims to separate the executive from the legislature, while “upgrading the role of the MP”, as pointed out by the prime minister.

The constitutional dimension and timetable

In order to implement the change, intervention in the Constitution is required, which postpones its implementation to a later date. Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred the debate in its entirety to after the 2027 elections, as the constitutional revision process has not yet started.

If the proposal, which is being formulated with reference to models of other countries, such as the French one, is included in the relevant dialogue and approved, it will come into force from the next elections.

Marinakis’ clarifications and the debate on the number of MPs

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis provided clarifications on the proposal, noting that it is a change that will be subject to pre-election debate, but will be implemented after the elections.

As he said, the proposal involves the “suspension of parliamentary status” for any MP who is selected as a minister, with a runner-up replacing him or her and returning to parliament in the event of leaving the government.

At the same time, he also raised the possibility of reducing the number of MPs, noting that “perhaps we should also discuss reducing the number of MPs” so as not to increase the number of MPs’ offices beyond 300.