Opposition parties seem to be counting the political cost from the stalemate created by the Cyprus President’s referral to the House of the two new foreclosures bills aiming to slow down the process.
President Nicos Anastasiades considers the bills to be unconstitutional and has made clear that should parliament decide to not accept the referral and scrap the bills he will refer the matter to the Supreme Court for adjudication.
Insiders told Phileleftheros that the most likely scenario is that of the bills going before the Supreme Court as this would imply minimum political cost for the parties.
The opposition’s bid to change the foreclosures process appears to be totally ineffective since nothing will change until the bills get under the microscope of the Supreme Court – and this implies a long process.
Nonetheless, party leaders will be boasting that they had made the changes but the government went ahead and blocked them. It is obvious, an insider said, that no one wants to bear the political cost on a sensitive issue such as that of foreclosures.
And every party will try to save its image at the extraordinary plenary session of the House on Monday. For the time being, only rejection of the referral seems to be on the table for the opposition unless an interim solution comes up which is very unlikable.
The referral of the bills to the Supreme Court also allows the President and the ruling Disy to maintain their political position which is the safeguarding of a smooth and unhindered operation of the island’s banking system. Amending the law on foreclosures will obstruct the banking system’s operation but since the Supreme Court will take its time before a decision is taken this seems to suit all parties involved.
However, opposition centre Diko will be the one to play a key role in the event that an interim solution gets to be achieved.  The votes of the members of Diko which is the island’s third largest will be decisive for the acceptance or not of the referral.
The Diko leadership are now meeting to discuss the position they should take on Monday, with informed sources saying views are divided but that the referral to the Supreme Court appears to also suit them.
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/finmin-fiscal-council-call-on-mps-t%ce%bf-reconsider-foreclosures-amendment/
