Defence levy rise is delayed again

By Martin Hellicar

LONG hours of back-room wrangling failed to secure party unanimity for approval of an increase in the defence levy at the House plenum yesterday.

House president Spyros Kyprianou announced – at the end of a day-long plenum session – that party leaders had agreed on a motion to call a special parliamentary session for August 5 solely for discussion of the controversial bill, pendii\ng since 1996.

The motion to postpone debate of the controversial bill – hiking contributions to the defence fund from the current three to four per cent – was carried. Yesterday’s plenum session was meant to be the last before the deputies’ summer break.

Kyprianou said the decision to postpone consideration of the bill had been taken following consultation with President Clerides.He also announced that a special meeting between party leaders, Clerides, Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou, Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou and National Guard chiefs would be held on Tuesday to discuss the bill.

The House president, who is also Diko leader, had called party leaders to his office three times during the day in an effort to persuade main opposition party Akel and the minority United Democrats to drop their objections to the levy increase.

Despite the fact that the bill’s passage seemed assured by the support of Disy, Diko and Edek, deputies were loathe to put it to the vote in the absence of unanimity.

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