The role of volunteer firefighters is heading towards institutionalization with a bill being discussed by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, while the review of the highest level of justice will not be presented before the Plenary Session of the Parliament next Thursday.
The Chairman of the Committee, Parliamentary Representative of DISY Nikos Tornaritis in statements after the session said that the purpose of the bill is “the institutionalization of the voluntary role of the citizens on the battlefield, essentially, the confrontation of the fiery flame: Who are eligible to be volunteers?” they will belong, what is their education, what are the exams, what is the civil liability, what is the employer's relationship with the volunteer firefighter, etc. “
“We consider that it is a very crucial bill, which will soon be before the plenary of the Parliament because unfortunately every year we are faced as a state with this natural phenomenon, through the climate change that occurs in recent years and causes many disasters, no “only in Cyprus, but also in many countries of the Earth”, noted. Larnaca and Limassol have shown that any assistance in the event of fires and emergencies should be necessary and welcome.
“We have examined in the Commission the bill for volunteer firefighters so that many people, who are aware in such cases and want to help and assist to do so in a coordinated manner and with the right training, so that neither he nor he is in danger. neither are the others involved in the efforts to either put out the fires or save lives, “he said.
The issue, he added, will be discussed in future sessions so as to lead to plenary as soon as possible “because we believe that volunteering can always contribute to the state and be helpful in cases where hands and humanitarian aid are needed.”
Justice Reform
Regarding the issue of the revision of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Legal Committee stated that AKEL requested further answers and explanations and for this reason the bill for constitutional amendment will not be submitted to the plenary next Thursday, before the AKEL receives the explanations it wants.
“That is why I hope that everyone will finally be convinced that the time has come for there to be cuts in the Cypriot justice. “Next Wednesday, I have already told the secretariat of the Commission that the Minister of Justice should be summoned to give the answers that AKEL wants and I hope that very soon she will also appear before the Plenary Session of the Parliament”, he noted.
Asked about the same issue, the AKEL MP stated that no postponement was requested. “Since the last time we had asked the Ministry and all the competent bodies to submit a study, which will show the following: From the thousands of pending appeals or cases that with the judicial reform – as it is said – the system will be decongested, how will they be distributed in the Court of Appeals and in the other courts that are created and what is the schedule of their trial? “.
As Mr. Pasiourtidis said, of delays will be resolved in a certain period of time and we want to know that the cases will be distributed in the specialized courts in a specific way. “We reiterate that such reforms, structural and substantive, should garner the broadest possible consensus of the parties,” he concluded.
RIK and the Law on Proof
In his statements, Mr. Tornaritis also referred to the issue that saw the light of day in relation to interference in a TV show and said that he asked for a disciplinary investigation. Specifically, when asked about what happened recently in RIK, Mr. Tornaritis stated that “we must all defend the right of the journalist to do his job properly, impartially and independently. For this very reason I have personally requested a disciplinary investigation to find out why my colleague Kostis Efstathiou was expelled from the Cyprus State Institution, and I say the Cyprus State Institution because, as you well know, the money owes the Cypriot taxpayer's backwardness. That is why we are waiting for answers from the council and the management of RIK “.
In addition, Mr. Pasiourtidis in his statements also referred to the issue of amending the Law on Proof, stating that “there is a tendency whenever there is a difficulty either in the banks or in the credit companies to prove their cases. “These obstacles, which may be due to legal or procedural measures invoked by the borrowers, who are the weakest in this case, should be removed to facilitate the proof of the cases of banks and credit companies.” p>
“I have to emphasize that the weak part in this relationship is the borrower and if and when credit companies want to prove their case they will have to overcome these obstacles in at the end of the day the law prevails. “If the law will be to secure a court decision against the borrower well, but we can not constantly remove safeguards from the borrowers and make it easier for companies and banks to prove their cases,” he noted.
