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The Code of Conduct for Members was adopted, following recommendations from Greco

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The Code of Conduct for Members was adopted, following recommendations from Greco

The House of Representatives has formally adopted its own Code of Conduct for its members, following a request from the Council of Europe Commission against Corruption, Greco.

The Code, according to the Parliament, governs issues such as the wider conduct of MPs, transparency, declaration of conflict of interest, bribery, and travel of MPs. The decision establishing the Code was approved by 32 deputies, with one abstention.

According to the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Institutions, Zacharias Zachariou, the Code was drafted by a subcommittee, after studying the respective Codes of EU Parliaments and parliaments of non-EU countries that were close to the Cypriot Parliament. He noted that the Code comes to supplement the rules of operation of Parliament.

The Code provides for the establishment of an ethics committee which will be drawn up on the basis of the article of the Constitution that governs the appointment of the selection committee of the Parliament.

In case of violation of the Code by a Member of Parliament, a “political penalty” will be imposed. If the ethics committee decides that a Member of Parliament has violated the Code, then either the Chairman of the committee or the Speaker of the Parliament will report before the Plenary that the specific Member of Parliament has violated the Code and will be called to apologize. Every September, the Ethics Committee will present in the Plenary the evaluation of the previous year.

Mr. Zachariou said that the “political penalties” were decided, since the relevant legislation exists for criminal matters. As he said, the sentences include verbal and written reprimand, rebuke for unethical behavior, call for an apology at the plenary session, written apology, while the sentences will be published on the website of the Parliament.

“The judge is the voter, who does not want to vote for a member of parliament who is acting unethically,” he said.

According to the relevant decision of the Parliament, “building and maintaining trust in state institutions and in the rule of law in general serves the maximum in a democratic state by adopting principles and rules of ethics that govern the members of the House of Representatives in the exercise of their duties.” their”.

“The political message that must be left is that regardless of political views we succeed, we find common denominators and we take the first step for the good of the Parliament and for the good of the Republic”, also Mr. Zachariou supported.

On behalf of AKEL, Aristos Damianou said that the Parliament acquires a code of conduct after 60 years of operation and acknowledged that “many times, either intentionally or unintentionally, we hurt the image of Parliament and at a time when devaluation is at its peak everyone we must put our little stone in order to restore the image of the institutions and the Parliament “.

Pavlos Mylonas on behalf of DIKO praised the work done for the preparation of the Code and the cooperation of the members of the subcommittee, but also the coherence of the Chairman of the Committee. “It is one of the few times that the need to produce results wins,” he said.

On the part of EDEK, Kostis Efstathiou said that the Code is something that was missing from the operation of Parliament. “Parliament's much older years did not need a code because there was a level of conduct of MPs, something that is unfortunately missing from this Parliament and I include myself,” he added.

On behalf of Solidarity, Michalis Giorgallas welcomed the creation of the Code “in the midst of a general discrediting of the Institutions and tracing a political decline that in recent years creates a gap that we must fill.”

George Lillikas on behalf of the Citizens' Alliance congratulated those who worked on the drafting of the Code, which filled a large gap that existed. “We are experiencing an unprecedented devaluation of institutions and politics, especially among the youth of our country, and it will take a lot of effort to restore the prestige of the state and the prestige of Parliament,” he said.

On behalf of the Ecologists' Movement, George Perdikis, who chaired the subcommittee, expressed the hope that the code would be implemented. “I wish the Code of Ethics with all the gaps and weaknesses that it has to be faithfully implemented and then developed into a functional text that will raise the prestige of Parliament,” he added.

On behalf of the Cooperation of Democratic Forces, Marinos Mousioutas congratulated the contributors who worked on the drafting of the Code and added: “It is important to vote to ensure that we implement it, so that we are the first to set a good example and avoid the various bad precedents until today”.

Michalis Sophocleous, who participated in the subcommittee, said that today the Parliament “closes a huge backlog, not only to meet the demands of the Greco Commission, but especially the obligation to our citizens, the citizens who were hurt by acts committed by members of Parliament and others but also by an image of general corruption that exists everywhere “.

Irini Charalambidou, also a member of the subcommittee, highlighted the need for a culture of implementation of the Code “If there is no culture to implement the Code and state laws, we will not do anything. “The important thing is not to pass the Code but to create the culture to apply it,” he said.

Andreas Pasiourtidis, speaking as a member of the subcommittee, thanked everyone for the praise to the subcommittee, emphasizing “the greatest praise will be when those we represent feel proud of us.”

The Plenary approved with 32 votes in favor and 2 abstentions an oral amendment of the parties DISY, AKEL and DIKO, according to which each member of parliament can go abroad with a trip paid in full or in part only if he obtains permission from the ethics committee.

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Source: politis.com.cy

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