The work of their parliamentary group over the past year was presented on Tuesday evening by the MPs of the Ecologists' Movement - Citizens' Co-operation. The MPs stressed that, despite their enhanced presence over the past year, their work often encountered obstacles which, they said, were often related to opacity and corruption.
As noted during the presentation, the Movement is represented for the first time with three seats in the House of Representatives, held by its President, Haralambos Theopeptou, Alexandra Attalidou and Stavros Papadouris, which implies participation in more committees, while the securing of the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment by Mr. The presentation of the parliamentary work of the three MPs of the Movement took place on Tuesday evening at the Filoxenia Conference Centre, where the attendees had the opportunity to follow in detail the activities of the Ecologists in the House of Representatives (submission of legislative proposals, registration of issues, submission of questions, etc.).) from June 2021 to July 2022, as well as the Movement's international interventions through the House of Representatives.
As mentioned during the presentation, since the beginning of the new parliamentary work, the members of the Ecologists' Movement have tabled 121 parliamentary questions, out of a total of 358 questions tabled, i.e. 33.8%. Also, of the 1,142 entries of ex officio issues, 509, or 44.6%, were tabled with the contribution of the MPs of the Ecologist Movement - Citizens' Co-operation, which also contributed to 112 legislative proposals, of which 12, or 23.5%, were passed in the plenary session of the Parliament.
85 of the 328 new issues in Parliament, i.e. 21%, were tabled with the contribution or on behalf of the Movement's MPs. A total of 814 issues were also re-registered, i.e. issues that were written in the previous parliamentary session and still exist, of which 312 are of the Ecologists, i.e. 38%.
It was also reported that of the five draft resolutions tabled, the Movement tabled three, which concerned "condemnation of Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenians and the current situation in Nagorno Karabakh", "Turkey's illegal and provocative actions against the Kurdish people", which were adopted, while the resolution on "protection of Akama" was not adopted.
According to the presentation, the questions tabled on behalf of the three MPs concern the widest range of society, areas of environment and energy, culture, health, economy, economy, rule of law, education, transport, labour.
Mr. Theopeptou said in his statement that we are in "the worst situation and with the worst government we have ever had" when it comes to environmental issues, highlighting the way in which energy poverty, rising fuel and electricity costs, as well as essentials, affect citizens.
He made particular reference to the difficulties caused to parliamentary work by the naturalisation scandal, where, he said, "it became apparent years ago that the government was backing certain offices". He spoke of the secrecy, irritation and aggression faced by "anyone who tried to look into the matter". He added that a similar scene was created with the surveillance scandal and pointed out that these issues create a bad image for Cyprus in the EU and other countries, "which we ask to support us on the Cyprus problem", the Movement's President explained.
Responding to questions, Theopeptou underlined his concern for a proper public consultation open to the public, while he made special reference to initiatives on issues related to the registration and census of artists, so that they can receive benefits and pensions. He also spoke of efforts to establish standards for mooring areas so that they do not become an excuse for the appropriation of beaches. He also expressed concern that achieving a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 will be difficult with the limited use of renewable energy, the gap in tree planting and energy upgrades in buildings, and in public transport.
Alexandra Attalidou also made a special reference to the difficulties that government corruption creates in parliamentary work, expressing doubts about whether "the Parliament can or wants to be the engine of catharsis."
"This government has covered everything with a veil of opacity, especially regarding passports and surveillance," said Alexandra Attalidou. Attalidou in response to questions, saying that the questions she submitted to ministries as part of the parliamentary scrutiny received answers that were classified as confidential or secret and therefore could not be published.
He added that "to fight corruption you need accountability and responsibility, but the government does not want to be accountable, nor does it take any responsibility, but in fact tries to obfuscate," noting that he believes that the confidential answers it receives are corruption in disguise. "When public figures use their position for personal interests, then there is corruption and unfortunately many people accept this," Attalidou said, referring to the case of the Akamas project. She concluded that in order to fight corruption it is necessary to have people who protest and remove from public office those who are corrupt.
Stavros Papadouris stressed during his statement that the aim of his parliamentary work was to serve the public interest, without petty political considerations and with a willingness to cooperate with other forces, so that proposals can be passed. He explained that to this end, convergences were being sought among the parties, with the ultimate goal of prosperity and sustainable development, both economically and socially, he said. He also pointed out, however, that "parliamentary work is not an easy or simple task in a country governed by corruption."
In response to questions, he said that sometimes it is difficult to see whether a bill submitted for approval on the pretext that it is necessary for harmonisation with European directives actually has this purpose and cited the case of the recovery and resilience plan as such an example. He highlighted as a very important success of parliamentary work the introduction of ex officio judicial review of unfair clauses in red loans. Finally, he particularly stressed the importance of the initiative to elect party leaders in parliament by cross-election, noting however that he does not expect the major parties to support this proposal.
Source: CNA
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