Published on 8 January 2024

THIRD SECTION

Application no. 40911/21 COMMUNICATION AND POLITICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY against Greece lodged on 2 August 2021 communicated on 15 December 2023

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the length of administrative proceedings.

On 30 July 2009, the applicant lodged a compensatory action before the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal, claiming the amount of EUR 30,000 for failure of the State to pay off ( αποπληρωμή) a grant agreement between the applicant and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 4 July 2011, the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the action on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction.

On 23 January 2018, after the civil courts also rejected the applicant’s action on the grounds that they lacked jurisdiction, the applicant lodged before the Supreme Special Court ( Ανώτατο Ειδικό Δικαστήριο ) a request to resolve the negative conflict of jurisdiction. The Supreme Special Court decided, on 13 March 2019, in favour of the jurisdiction of the administrative courts and referred the case back to the appellate court.

On 23 June 2020, with judgment no. 2330/2020 the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s action as unfounded.

On 31 July 2020, the applicant lodged before the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal an application under Law no. 4055/2012 for just satisfaction due to excessive length of proceedings.

With judgment no. 1/2021, published on 11 January 2021, the Athens Administrative Court of Appeal “partially accepted” the application. It held that, since the case was adjudicated upon referral by the Supreme Special Court, the impugned proceedings should be considered as having involved one level of jurisdiction. Thus, the period to be taken into consideration lasted more than eleven years. Further, the court noted that the case was not complex and neither the applicant nor the administration contributed to the delay. The court held that the length of proceedings did not respect the “reasonable time” requirement imposed by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. At the same time, the court noted the serious impact of the financial crisis on public finances and awarded EUR 3,000 as just satisfaction.

Relying on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the applicant complains about the length of domestic proceedings and alleges that the just satisfaction awarded in judgment no. 1/2021 was clearly unreasonable. He further complains that the reasoning of that judgment was deficient.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

1. Can the applicant still claim to be a victim of a violation of the Convention, within the meaning of Article 34?

2. If so, was the length of the proceedings leading to judgment no. 2330/2020 of the Athens Αdministrative Court of Appeal in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?