On Monday 14 January, the Greek parliament ratified with 166 ayes, 123 nays and 1 abstention six of the acts of legislative content pushed through by the government since November 2012 as well as additional amendments to Greek laws, using the emergency voting procedure. Acts of legislative content are essentially decrees issued by government ministers which come in force immediately after being approved by the President of the Republic and must be ratified by parliament within some three and a half months in order to become permanent law. The procedure of acts of legislative content is intended, according to the constitution, to be used in cases of extreme emergency, but the current government has been issuing such acts to bypass parliament, for example to pass amendments to the latest bailout agreement merely days after it was voted on 7 November 2012.
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