Postponement for one week the Plenum of the House of Representatives postponed the debate and vote on the bill which amends the law governing the operation of the police, to allow for the recruitment of contracted special police officers to perform auxiliary and supportive tasks to deal with migration flows and immigration issues in general within the scope of the Police's responsibilities.
The adoption of regulations amending the secondary legislation governing the operation of museums under the Department of Antiquities was also postponed in order to abolish entrance fees to a number of museums, to extend the possibility of free entry to ancient monuments to families with three children and pensioners, and to provide for the possibility of civil marriages in designated museums and ancient monuments against payment of a fee for the concession of the use of these premises.
The debate on the two pieces of legislation was postponed by a decision of the Conference of Heads or Representatives of Political Parties. Regarding the recruitment of special police officers, DISY Parliamentary Spokesman Nikos Tornaritis said that the one-week postponement was given at the request of AKEL, while stressing that this is a very serious bill that must be passed into law soon. ELAM MP Linos Papagiannis objected to the postponement, expressing the assessment that during the time it will take for the law to be passed, signed by the President of the Republic and published so that it can come into force, the republican-controlled territories will receive another 1000 asylum seekers. Speaker of the Parliament Anita Demetriou replied to the ELAM MP that the postponement was decided with the consent of the Minister of Interior, adding that the reconsideration of some provisions will enable the Parliament to pass a more correct law.
Regarding the postponement of the discussion of the regulations on museums, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Marinos Mousiuttas, asked for an update on the reasons on which the decision of the Conference of Chiefs to return the regulations for further discussion to the Committee he chairs was based, stating that the Committee on Transport discussed the regulations on a priority basis and completed its work. The same position was expressed by DIKO MP Christos Orphanides, adding that the postponement of a vote must be based on serious reasons and asked that the Plenary Session of Parliament be informed of the reasons that led the Conference of Chiefs to postpone the vote.
The Speaker of Parliament replied that it is parliamentary practice that when a party requests a postponement, it should be granted. He added that the decision of the Conference of Chiefs to postpone the vote was unanimous.
Source: CNA
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