TWO deputies who stormed out of a parliamentary committee meeting on gaming on Thursday said yesterday they did so because they were fed up of pointless discussions.
Deputies, DISY”sAverof Neophytou and DIKO’s Angelos Votsis both said discussions on the gaming bill were going around in circles, and there had been a lack of order at the meeting.
The bill – which was being discussed in a joint meeting by the House Finance, Legal Affairs and Institutions Committees – had been talked to death in parliament before being sent to the European Commission (EC) for approval.
The committees are now meant to be discussing the final details before tabling the bill – which hopes to regulate gambling and impose some serious restrictions to online betting – for approval.
Votsis said yesterday he decided to leave Thursday’s meeting because the same things were being re-discussed, which he said was pointless.
“We were discussing procedural matters for too long – basically the chairmen were – and I felt it dragged on too much,” Votsis said. “Here we are, discussing all the details from scratch again.”
The final straw for Votsis was when he suggested the Committee seek the advice of the Committee for Protection of Competition (CPC) before the bill is tabled for the final vote.
“I feel that if we seek the CPC’s advice in advance, we won’t leave the opportunity open for someone to apply to the CPC to complain that competition regulations were being violated,” he said. “So I suggested that we should hear the advice of the CPC, in addition to the Legal Services, by Monday or Tuesday – something I think was eventually accepted – and once we have all the facts in front of us, we can all make our political decision.” But Votsis’ proposal just opened the way for further lengthy debates. “They continued to drag the discussion out, I just felt that it was unnecessary and I decided to walk out,” he said.
The bill has been the subject of some controversy. Sops offering online gambling services claimed there was clear preferential treatment of Greek Lotto operator, OPAP, and that this would lead to a monopoly.
DISY’s Neophytou’s main gripe on Thursday was with the Legal Affairs Committee Chairman, fellow party member Ionas Nicolaou, who said “personal interests” were being served by the bill in question.
“Each law that passes from parliament is aimed at being fair and correct for the public independent of whether the law will offer the opportunity or stop certain individuals from developing business activities,” Neophytou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “This is something we can’t have any control over. But it was unacceptable for the chairman to take such a stance.”
He said he refused to participate in a meeting that sent out such a message, which could be used at a later date by someone who wanted to support these interests.
“And because I don’t have any personal interests, I refuse to join in with this discussion,” said Neophytou. “When parliamentary order prevails – because unfortunately, the chair violated parliamentary order and I refuse to take part in such disorder – I may consider returning to the committee. But I certainly won’t be participating in the next meeting (on Monday).”
The committee chairmen – especially Nicolaou and EVROKO’s Rikkos Erotokritou of the Institutions Committee – were at constant loggerheads throughout Thursday’s session, resulting in the meeting being closed off to the media and guests for over an hour.
