The case concerns the refusal by the competent authority to naturalise the applicant who was born in the former Yugoslavia, is of non-Greek descent with "undetermined" nationality and permanent resident of Greece as a recognised refugee. The court ruled that the competent authorities may reject the application for naturalisation without being obliged to provide a particular reasoning for that decision.
Art. 6 - 1955 Code of Greek Citizenship (legislative decree 3370/1955)
The applicant, who was born in the former Yugoslavia, is of "undetermined" nationality and was permanently residing in Greece as a recognized refugee. His application to acquire Greek nationality by naturalisation was rejected in 1988 by the Minister of the Interior. No reasoning for the rejection was included in the decision.
The applicant argued that the decision lacked any reasoning and was ill-founded.
The court argued that naturalisation is a right of the State rather than an obligation. The State has a very wide discretion to accept or reject such applications in a manner which serves the national interest, even in cases where the requirements foreseen by the legislation are met. In that context, the competent authorities were not obliged to provide any reasoning for the rejection of the application.
However, the court also noted that had any specific reasoning been included in the decision, the court could assess whether the reasons behind the rejection were legitimate.
The application was rejected by the court.
It should be particularly noted that the overall legislative framework with regards the naturalization procedure has been radically amended in the years following the issuance of the decision.