The Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs completed on Thursday the examination of the amendments on the bills for the reform of local government.
The presentation of the amendments, which exceed 85, took place during a closed-door session of the relevant committee.
Most of the amendments concern minor issues, while some touch on the thorny issues of municipality mergers and clustering of communities, as well as the holding or not of referendums.
Next Thursday's session is expected to give a clearer picture of the final shape of the bills, according to members of the Interior Committee.
Moreover, according to the members of the Committee, it is almost certain that in February the bills for the reform of local government will be put before the plenary of the House of Representatives for a vote.
In a statement after the session, Interior Committee Chairman Aristos Damianou, said that another session will be held next Thursday so that the amendments that receive the approval of the majority of the committee members can be incorporated into the bills.
He said that today the Interior Committee completed the presentation of all the amendments tabled by all parties to the package of bills concerning local government reform, noting that "a creative debate was held and efforts were made to find convergences on a number of issues".
He noted that they have touched on the thorny issue of municipality mergers and the various scenarios, to note that "the parliamentary groups have kept open the prospect until next Thursday to find those necessary convergences in order to reduce the volume of amendments that will be brought to the plenary session of Parliament."
Regarding the procedure, Damianou said that "once the presentation of all the amendments (they exceed 85) has been completed, next Thursday the members of the Internal Affairs Committee will vote, so that amendments that are adopted will be incorporated into the texts and those that are not adopted will be decided by the parliamentary groups whether to insist and whether to put them before the plenary".
Moreover, he noted that this is also provided for in the Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
He stressed that "the horizon that we set in February[/B] - I say this with relative certainty - to be able to put the reform before the Plenary for adoption remains visible".
"We have said repeatedly that the passing of this reform is a necessity and that is why we will insist that within the framework we have set, it should be put before the plenary," he said."
In relation to the scenarios on the number of municipalities, he said an attempt was made today to fumble around the possibility of finding convergences.
He said that there were no absolute positions from the parties, to add that he did not doubt that disagreements would be recorded, but he kept the fact that everyone tried to present themselves ready to discuss through the various scenarios.
On the referendums, Mr. Damianou said that they will vote next week, noting that "there is a proposal to hold local referendums, but there is also an objection to this position."
However, he said this "will be definitively clarified next Thursday."
Recall thatthe majority of parties appear to support the creation of 20 municipalities, with DISY insisting on 17 and DPA proposing 14.
DPA - Democratic Forces Cooperation MP Marinos Mousiuttas said that the reading of all amendments had been completed, adding that next week committee members would vote on which ones would be included in the bills by majority vote.
"I believe that in a spirit of consensus we have all today taken another step towards completing efforts to have the bills before the plenary in February for a vote," he said.
He added that the PPP had developed its scenario for 14 municipalities, and said it was open to a smaller number, noting that the party favoured fewer municipalities and more clusters of municipalities.
On referendums, he said there are ambiguous views, adding that we will also vote on this in the next session so that the bills can be completed.
DISY MP Nikos Syka expressed hope that the next session would be the concluding session and the bills would be brought to the plenary for voting according to the timetable set.
He expressed the view that although the parties' positions on the number of municipalities remain, there is room for consensus.
Ecologists' Movement MP Alexandra Attalidou said that the Ecologists have supported the creation of the Akamas Municipality, with the Municipality of Peyia assuming the primary role.
She expressed her belief that Akamas and the Peyia Forest need protection, noting that the Movement believes that "Peyia has the potential to provide services to all the villages of Laona and to be a sustainable municipality."
Source: CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
