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Friday, 23 May 2025

Conference on "The timeless message of the Constitution of Trizina"

Scientific Workshop of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) in cooperation with the Law School of the European University Cyprus

The European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the Law School of the European University Cyprus co-organized on Friday, May 23, 2025, at 18:00 in Athens, at the EPLO's conference room in Plaka, a scientific event on:

“The timeless message of the Constitution of Trizina”

The event aimed to highlight the institutional significance and historical legacy of the Constitution of Troizinos (1827), the first democratic constitutional text of modern Greece, which was a milestone for parliamentarianism and the principle of popular sovereignty.

The event was moderated by Professor Kostas Mavrias, Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, President of the Scientific Council of the Hellenic Parliament and President of the Union of Greek Constitutionalists, who, like the speakers of the event, has written a study on the subject.

The event opened with a welcome address by Mr.Spyridon Flogotis, Professor Emeritus of the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Director of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO), who highlighted the historical, social and political context in which Ioannis Kapodistrias moved, preparing the Revolution and within which the Constitution of Troizina was drafted.

In his welcoming remarks, on behalf of European University Cyprus, Mr. Manolis Benteniotis, Vice President of the Governing Board of European University Cyprus, referred to the resolutions of the Assembly. In particular, he highlighted the resolution on the election of Ioannis Kapodistrias as Governor of the Greek State, as well as the one that designated the city of Nafplio as the seat of the Government and the Parliament. It is interesting, in fact, that Mr. Benteniotis mentions that in the village of Troizina, in Vidi, on the trunk of a centuries-old tree, a plaque was found which Theodoros Kolokotronis had written with the dates of the Convention.

 

The speech was then given to the Dean of the Law School of the European University Cyprus and Professor of Public Law, Mr. Constantinos Tsimaras, who, among other things, stated that "Almost two centuries have passed since the adoption of the Constitution of Troizinos in 1827. A Constitution linked to the arrival of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who took over the government of the country under difficult circumstances. These two events were a milestone in Greek history".

The speakers expressed, inter alia, the following thoughts:

Mr. Alkis Dervitsiotis, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Law School of the Democritus University of Thrace, that "The suspension of the validity of the Troizina Constitution was a product of the reality and needs of the time. Civil conflicts, Ibrahim in the Peloponnese, and political disputes constituted the ominous reality. National liberation was threatened by the aspirations of the great powers of the time and their agents who sowed discord. The stakes were Greece as an independent state or as a tributary protectorate of the Sultan. The suspension of the Troizina Constitution and the adoption of a new one was the policy of Ioannis Kapodistrias. Despite the accusations against him, Kapodistrias on the one hand anticipated future constitutional provisions on the law of necessity and in particular the declaration of the country under siege, and on the other hand acted to secure the independence of Greece".

Mr.Xenophon Kontiadis, Professor of Public Law at Panteion University and President of the Centre for European Constitutional Law, said in particular that "The Third National Assembly is the longest of the Struggle, since it began its work in Piada on 6 April 1826 and, after two interruptions and intermediate stops in Ermioni and Aegina, completed its turbulent life on 5 May 1827 in Troizina. It is not inappropriate to describe the Troizina Constitution as the “most perfect” of the Constitutions of the Struggle and a model for the Constitutions of its time. The pioneering Constitution of Troizina synthesizes the democratic and liberal character with an effective system of government and with institutional balances that could perhaps have prevented the political crises that followed."

Mr. Nikos Papaspyrou, Associate Professor of the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, stated in particular that "the Constitution of Troizina, in its most mature form, conveyed the political character of the new Greek State, but also the failure to solve the problem of executive power. Both the importance of the Parliament and the question of the democratic legitimacy of governmental power have been constants in the constitutional quest of the nation ever since."

A discussion followed.

The event was attended by former ministers, senior officials of the judiciary, university professors, public officials, members of the Board of Directors of the Athens Bar Association and the Association of Practising and Young Lawyers of Athens, lawyers, and a large number of people.