Anastasiades to brief MPs on Cyprob during closed-door session

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasides will brief MPs on the Cyprus reunification talks during a closed-door session of the House plenum, it was decided on Thursday.

The briefing has been scheduled for September 15, at 6.30pm.

The norm is for the President to give confidential briefings at the Presidential Palace to the heads or representatives of political parties during sessions of the National Council or gatherings of political party leaders.

In a break from custom, and given the apparently significant developments in the Cyprus talks, Anastasiades has chosen to brief all MPs.

But there are conditions: no mobile phones, no hidden devices, and only MPs and two parliament stenographers may attend.

The decision for an in-camera briefing of the plenum upset some lawmakers, who argued that it is unconstitutional.

The constitution mandates that 42 MPs must vote whenever a private session of the plenum is proposed.

To overcome these objections, a motion for a private presidential briefing was put to the House on Thursday evening, garnering 47 votes in favour.

Greens MP George Perdikis and independent MP Zacharias Koulias voted against the motion.

Perdikis argued that plenary sessions should always be open to the public.

DIKO chairman Nicholas Papadopoulos noted that a closed-door session carries no interest, as “dialogue will be absent.”

Ultimately, the vast majority of MPs endorsed the motion, recognising that some briefings must be kept confidential.

Discussions at the National Council are more often than not leaked to the media.

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.