Reservations on the procedure of the record of contacts, were raised at Wednesday's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions, where the Transparency in Public Decision-Making Processes Bill, which deals with lobbying, was reintroduced for discussion.
The Ministry of Justice has undertaken to clarify aspects of the bill, relating to the recording of officials' contacts,[/B] before it returns before Parliament.
Specifically, the bill provides that contacts of state officials, MPs or other local government officials should be recorded in a special register, which will be audited by the competent authority for transparency purposes.
In the context of the discussion that took place within the Committee, in the presence of the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Stefi Drakos, reservations were expressed regarding the effectiveness of the bill and the possibility of creating obstacles to the work of officials during its practical implementation.
Ms. Drakou stressed that the intention of the Ministry is not to create unnecessary bureaucracy, nor is it intended to restrict the meetings of officials and the promotion of anyone's interests. She said the aim is to prevent corruption, which is why transparency is about cases where there is involvement for policy decisions.
She concluded that the ministry's intention is to "assist Parliament to reach sound decisions through a synthesis of views". He asked party representatives to submit their views to be discussed with the Legal Service in order to synthesise opinions in the right direction.
The chairman of the committee and DISY MP, Dimitris Demetriou, said there are concerns as it is something new and that the aim is for the measure to be institutionalised "as correctly and in the most practicable way possible".
"We are making an Authority to serve transparency," he said, but added that "if even among ourselves we are still wondering which contacts should be created for which contacts, then a mess will be created."
Addressing the Minister, he called for the preparation of a manual with examples.
On behalf of AKEL, MP George Loukaides said that in its current form, the bill "will create incredible bureaucracy, which will make the legislation largely unworkable and at the same time, due to its non-implementation, officials will be left irreparably exposed". He explained that such restrictions should not be put in place to discourage Non-Governmental Organisations, Organisations concerning people with disabilities, Non-Profit Associations from promoting collective interests through meetings with officials. Loucaides, assessing that this is not clearly described in the bill.
Following Loucaides' statement, AKEL's Andreas Pasiourtides said that the issue can be put on a different basis if it is clarified by the executive that involvement in a public decision-making process concerns cases that result in personal or business gain, for individual natural or legal persons.
DIKO MP Pavlos Mylonas said that "the key word is transparency" in the whole debate. He stressed that the judge of the actions and positions of officials is the people, so transparency should not be a concern.
DIKO MP Zacharias Koulias said that such a bill should be simple, simple and functional and argued that the problem is that the legal code does not apply to "blatant" criminal offences. Addressing the Minister, the MP said the Bill needed further work by the Law Commissioner.
MP Alexandra Attalidou, on behalf of the Green Movement, expressed the view that officials should not feel threatened by declaring their contacts. In her remarks at the end of the meeting, she said that the bill should safeguard the political process, but also enhance accountability and transparency in decision-making. "To restore the trust of citizens, we must be open to transparency ourselves," she concluded.
Independent MP Andreas Themistocleous said the bill imposes "brutal restrictions on the freedoms and duties of MPs" and "outlaws elected representatives and appointed officials from the elected government."
Source: CNA
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