Parliament upholds foreclosures suspension

Parliament on Thursday upheld a bill suspending the foreclosures law until the end of the month, despite government appeals to avoid actions that could hurt Cyprus’ credibility.

President Nicos Anastasiades had refused to sign the bill and referred it back to parliament where it was upheld by the opposition parties which passed it in the first place.

DIKO MP Athina Kyriakidou broke ranks and joined ruling DISY’s 20 lawmakers who sided with Anastasiades.

The president can now refer the bill to the Supreme Court though he will probably avoid doing so as there was no time before it expired at the end of the month.

Suspension of the foreclosures law in December came right after international lenders released €350 million as part of the island’s €10 billion bailout.

And this after they had initially withheld the payment in September following a similar action by opposition parties.

However, the recent move prompted the International Monetary Fund to withhold its share of the tranche, an additional €85 million.

Having effective foreclosures legislation in place was a condition included in the terms of the island’s bailout.

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.