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Report No. 1/2023 and Report No. 4/2022[/B]
[/P]The Supreme Court issued two opinions on 27 June 2023 on respective Petitions of the President of the Republic, under Article 140 of the Constitution regarding the following Laws passed by Parliament-
(a) The Primary and Secondary Education (Compulsory Education and Provision of Free Education) (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2022 (Passed on 2 December 2022); (Report 1/2023)
(b) The Controlling the Taking of Employment in the Private Sector by Former Government Officials and Certain Former Public and Public Sector Employees (Amendment) Act, 2022
(Passed on 3 November 2022), (Petition 4/2022)
According to a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court in Presidential Petition No. 1/2023, the first law passed, the purpose of which is to implement universal enrollment of children four (4) to six (6) years of age in an educational program of a public, community or private kindergarten entails an increase in state expenditures in violation of Article 80.2 of the Constitution, and is also contrary to Article 179 of the Constitution.
It should be noted that the additional expenditure is the result of the addition of transitional provisions by the House of Representatives itself, which amended the way in which the Law in question is implemented with regard to the accommodation of children and the operation of additional sections in public kindergartens. More specifically, by amendments of the Parliament, the attendance of children in compulsory pre-primary education in private kindergartens registered with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth was excluded from the school year 2026-2027.
On the basis of the above, the Court did not proceed to examine the other grounds put forward by the President of the Republic in relation to the possible unconstitutionality of other provisions of the same Act.
According to a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court in Report of the President of the Republic No. 4/2022, the second law passed by which the retired Judges, the Attorney General of the Republic and the Assistant Attorney General of the Republic will be obliged to apply to the "Special Commission" provided for by the provisions of the basic law, in the event that they intend to take up any employment with a specific private sector employer within the first two (2) years from the date of retirement or termination of service or expiration of the term of office, may be issued in that it is not contrary to or inconsistent with the specific Articles of the Constitution, namely Article 158.3 and Article 112.4.
In this regard, it was held that the enacted Law does not alter any of the conditions of service of Judges, nor does it affect any principle inherent to the profession of Judge, namely the principle of independence, impartiality and equality. On the contrary, it creates an additional guarantee to further safeguard judicial integrity and is consistent with judicial ethics, which includes retired judges.
The above, according to the relevant opinion, also applies to the Attorney General of the Republic and the Assistant Attorney General of the Republic.
For the Parliament (respondent) in Petition No. 1/2023 N. Kleanthous (Ms.) appeared for Christos M. Triantaphyllides.
For the Parliament (respondent) in Report No. 4/2022, A. S. Angelides appeared with S. A. Angelides.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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