The list of new bills that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades plans to urgently send back to parliament is getting longer by the day, according to insiders. The first one is the amended bill on foreclosures that was voted in last Friday aiming to slow down the process.
Then comes the one providing for the extension of protection against abusive clauses of banks in cases of legal persons to also cover small enterprises. This bill was also voted in last Friday.
An official source told Phileleftheros the fresh regulations could be confronted with unconstitutionality issues, and that the government has already asked the opinion of the Legal Service.
Objection to this bill is raised by the Ministry of Finance, the Association of Cyprus Banks, the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Cyprus Employers Federation.
As from Monday, parliament is in the process of sending newly approved legislation to the Presidential Palace. And the President has a total of 15 days from the one a bill is received to either sign it or send it back to parliament.
The President also has the right to directly send a bill to the Supreme Court. An insider said the two specific laws will be sent back to the House either by tomorrow (Friday) or early next week.
At the same time, even though parliamentary parties have not been officially informed of a possible convening of an extraordinary session of the House plenum, behind the scenes moves began on how they should address the President’s imminent referrals.
It is believed that all opposition parties will turn down the referral on the abusive clauses even though they do identify gaps in regard to its compatibility with European Union directives.
As for the foreclosures proposal drafted by opposition centre Diko, the Ecologists, Solidarity Movement and Citizens Alliance’s it is taken for granted that ruling Disy will approve the referral.
And it appears that Diko believes there is room for more discussion on the crucial bill. With the votes of the two parties, the referral will be approved.
Eleftheria Paizanou
