Police Academy Quotas

Honorable Ministers,

Having regard to the announcement of the competition for the selection of students for the Police Cadet School and the Police School of the Hellenic Police, I would like to express my strong opposition to the quantitative restrictions imposed by the aforementioned announcement, in the form of quotas, regarding the number of women who will be admitted to the Police Cadet School and the Police School for the 2001-2002 school year.

According to Article 4, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Constitution, the Community Directive 76/207, which has just been newly amended, and a series of decisions by the Council of State, any restriction on access to employment and any discrimination based on gender is illegal.

Specifically, regarding employment in the Hellenic Police, according to the decision 1929/1998 of the Council of State, its mission and character as a militarily organized armed force, as well as the conditions under which it carries out its activities, do not constitute, due to their general nature, specific and appropriate criteria to justify the established discrimination against women in their admission to the Police Cadet and Officer Schools.

Based on this reasoning, both the provisions of Law 2226/1994 and the joint ministerial decision 6000/2/112-a/2002, which define the elements of the Competition Announcement, insofar as they impose quantitative restrictions, violate the principle of equality between the two genders regarding access to employment, are unlawful, and cannot be implemented.

Sincerely,

Anna Karamanou