THE FOUR main parties yesterday shared out the chairmanships of Parliament’s 17 committees.
DIKO was the big winner, securing one more chairmanship than it had in the last House, although it lost one seat in the May 27 elections. KISOS, which also lost one seat, got only one chairmanship compared to two in the last Parliament.
Representatives from the eight parties represented in Parliament convened for the first time yesterday to take final decisions on the chairmanships of the house committees after backroom manoeuvres on the subject last week.
After a two-hour meting at the House, newly elected Speaker Demetris Christofias, leader of AKEL, announced that AKEL and DISY, with 20 and 19 seats respectively, would get six committee chairmanships each (same as before), DIKO, with nine seats, would get four, compared to three in the last House, and KISOS with four seats would maintain only one of its two previous chairmanships.
Newcomers ADIK, New Horizons and the Greens, as well as the United Democrats, will be allowed to participate in up to three committees each, but will not get any chairmanships as they only have one seat each.
“The meeting was held in a spirit of understanding,” Christofias said yesterday.
AKEL will get the chairmanships of the following committees: Interior, Labour, Refugee, Agriculture, Environment and Institutions and Values.
DISY will get the chairmanships of the Education, Foreign Affairs, Legal, Commerce, Health and Watchdog Committees.
DIKO will get the European Affairs, Finance, Communications and Human Rights committee chairmanships.
KISOS will only get the Defence Committee chairmanship.
“What used to be Foreign and European Affairs Committee will split in two committees, one for Foreign Affairs and one for European Affairs because there is too much work to do ahead of Cyprus’ EU accession,” Christofias said.
A Selection Committee was also set up yesterday to make a proposal on the composition of each house committee and table it before next Thursday’s Plenum for approval.
A decision on the formation and chairmanships of ad hoc committees (such as on Crime and on the Cyprus File) is yet to be made.
“Committees will start convening after their appointment next Thursday, whenever there are issues to address,” Christofias said.
Asked weather House Committees should hold regular meetings during the summer period instead of starting work in September as planned, the House President replied: “It is something to look into.”
Chief EU negotiator and United Democrats leader George Vassiliou has repeatedly sounded the alarm about “the need for the House to work in the summer if we want to be ready for accession in two or three years.”
Who got what
Finance Marcos Kyprianou (DIKO)
Institutions and Values Andreas Christou (AKEL)
Foreign Affairs Panayiotis Demetriou (DISY)*
European Affairs Tassos Papadopoulos (DIKO)
Communications Nicos Pittokopitis (DIKO)
Environment Undecided AKEL deputy
Education Sofoclis Hadjiyiannis (DISY)
Refugee Aristophanis Georgiou (AKEL)
Interior Nicos Katsourides (AKEL)
Commerce Undecided DISY deputy
Labour Yiannakis Thoma (AKEL)*
Defence Yiannakis Omirou (KISOS)*
Agriculture Christos Mavrokordatos (AKEL)
Legal Panayiotis Demetriou (DISY)
Health Undecided DISY deputy
Watchdog Christos Pourgourides (DISY)
Human Rights Undecided DIKO deputy
* Names marked with an asterisk had yet to be confirmed yesterday
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
