The revised bill on dangerous infectious diseases was submitted to the Parliamentary Health Committee on Thursday.
Specifically, the Ministry of Health - as pledged at the previous meeting of the relevant committee - submitted amendments to the bill, with the aim of continuing the article-by-article debate.
However, according to members of the Health Committee, although the revised bill shows improvements, there are still significant points of disagreement.
Today's debate focused on the introduction made by the Minister of Health himself, in order to reconcile views, on the involvement of the Parliament in the whole development of the pandemic, and in particular on how the Parliament will authorize the government, for the issuance of decrees.
In a statement after the meeting, the Chairperson of the Committee, Savvia Orphanidou, said that a revised bill has been submitted by the Ministry, which she noted "is clearly improved."
She expressed her satisfaction, as she said "the Ministry and the responsible Minister have taken into account many of the concerns and worries of the opposition."
Referring to the issue of the delegation of authority from Parliament to the government to issue the decrees, Orphanidou said that "there is a question as to whether this delegation will be based on a legislative regulation - which I understand is what the majority of the Committee wants - and also whether this delegation, which will be given, will be renewed at regular intervals."
In other words, he noted, "not only will there be information from the relevant Ministry, but the authorisation from Parliament to the executive will be renewed."
He stressed again "how important it is to have room for flexibility, but also efficiency on the part of the government to issue decrees and deal directly with the issue of the pandemic and the measures that must be promoted to deal with this pandemic."
He stressed again "how important it is to have flexibility, but also efficiency on the part of the government to issue decrees and to deal directly with the issue of the pandemic and the measures that must be promoted to deal with this pandemic.
He also stressed "how important it is to amend an anachronistic law, which has been in force since 1932, to not only ensure all human rights under the Constitution, but also to restrict them where they should be under the Constitution in order to protect public health.
Asked to explain when the decision will be made that we have a pandemic and whether it will be by decision of Parliament or automatically the government will decide that we have a pandemic and start issuing decrees, Orphanidou said that Article 2 of the bill elaborates on what constitutes a dangerous infectious disease, noting that "of course it depends on what happens at the global level and a decision will be made immediately by the Council of Ministers."
With regard to how the Parliament will be involved and how the Parliament will authorize the government to immediately declare a pandemic by preparing and promoting decrees, he said that "this is what we are discussing now, that is, whether this will be done by legislation and whether this authorization will be renewed through the information that will be provided by the relevant ministry to the Parliament."
"What is being discussed now is exactly how Parliament will give this authorisation. The majority of the Commission has clearly said that this should be done by legislation. We are waiting to see whether this will be included in the new revised text that will come before us," he said.
AKEL Parliamentary Representative Giorgos Loukaides recalled that in the previous session and in the presence of the Minister, they had found it possible to reach convergences, noting that they had also expressed their satisfaction in this regard, because for most of the issues raised by AKEL and adopted by an overwhelming majority or unanimously by the members of the Committee, the Minister of Health showed a willingness to adopt them and include them in a revised text.
However, as Mr. Loukaides "unfortunately today it has not been established that on all points there has been compliance and revision of the text to reflect what we as parties have asked for as a differentiation in the text".
He expressed regret because, he said, "key issues that we thought were agreed upon - and they were agreed upon on the record - are ultimately not reflected in the final revised text that is before us."
"I am referring to issues that have to do with the heart of this particular bill, the conditions through which there can be a curtailment of human rights. The need for the curtailment of human rights to be approved by Parliament, the need for the continued curtailment of human rights also to be approved by Parliament within a regular time frame. Such issues have not found their place within the text that has been put before us," he said.
Asked by a reporter whether they have proposed any mechanisms to resolve these problems, he said they have again referred to the Constitution, explaining that "even in the most extreme case, where a state of emergency should be declared due to war, in this case, in order to restrict human rights, there needs to be a prior decision of the Parliament."
He went on to say that "this decision must be renewed every three months", adding that "at the same time the Constitution clearly stipulates which human rights are possible to infringe even in case of war."
"All these were unfortunately not enshrined and are not enshrined even as we speak in the government bill, although the Minister of Health has agreed to include them," he noted.
According to George Loukaidis, AKEL will expect and is in good spirits that they will eventually be included, as requested by the Health Committee, and that this very important issue will soon have a positive outcome.
Protest demonstration outside the Conference Hall
Moreover, while the revised bill on dangerous infectious diseases was being discussed in the Health Committee of the Parliament, dozens of members of the Victory Movement were holding a protest demonstration against the measures to contain the pandemic.
The protesters called for a referendum for the approval of the anti-pandemic measures by the people.
They also protested why only in Cyprus such strict measures are imposed when other countries are constantly relaxing restrictions.
Source: CNA
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