Supreme Court to examine vetoed bills next year

The Supreme Court will convene next year to hear the arguments over a pre-trial request to ask the Court of Justice of the European Union whether two bills vetoed by the president violated the EU acquis.

The request was filed by Christos Clerides, representing parliament, after President Nicos Anastasiades sent the two bills – one on radio and television organisations and the other regarding the state broadcaster – to the Supreme Court to decide whether they were in line with the constitution.

The Supreme Court told the sides on Tuesday that it will hear their arguments on January 23.

The two bills were among 16 passed by parliament on April 14, the last day before dissolving ahead of parliamentary elections, sent to the Supreme Court by the president.

The bills were found by the attorney-general to include some provisions that clash with the constitution while others were entirely unconstitutional.

The government had criticised opposition parties for pushing through ‘populist’ laws, in a vote-grabbing bid just before the elections.

In turn, the opposition countered that several of the contentious bills were drafted by the government and submitted at the last moment, leaving MPs little time to review them properly.

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.