The revised bill on dangerous infectious diseases was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Health on Thursday.
Specifically, the Ministry of Health - as committed during the previous meeting of the competent Committee - submitted amendments to the bill, with the aim of continuing the article-by-article discussion.
However, according to members of the Health Committee, although the revised bill shows improvements, there are still significant points of disagreement.
Today's discussion focused on the suggestion made by the Minister of Health himself, in order to unite the views on the involvement of the Parliament in the whole development of the pandemic and specifically on how the Parliament will authorize the government to issue the decrees.
In her statements after the meeting, the Chairperson of the Committee, Savvia Orfanidou, said that a revised bill has been submitted by the Ministry, which, as she noted, "is clearly improved".
She expressed her satisfaction, since as she said "the Ministry and the competent Minister have taken into account several of the concerns and concerns of the opposition".
Referring to the issue of the authorization from the Parliament to the government, for the issuance of the decrees, Ms. Orfanidou said that "there is a question whether this authorization will be done on the basis of a legislative regulation - which I understand that the majority of the Commission wants - as well as whether this authorization will be renewed at regular intervals ".
That is, he noted, "not only will the competent Ministry be informed, but the authorization from the Parliament to the executive power will be renewed".
He reiterated "how important it is for the government to be flexible, but also for the government to be effective in issuing decrees and addressing immediately the issue of pandemics and the measures that need to be taken to address this pandemic."
He also stressed "how important it is to amend an anachronistic law, which has been in force since 1932, in order not only to ensure all human rights under the Constitution, but also to limit them where necessary under the Constitution, in order to protect public health.
Asked to explain when the decision will be made that we have a pandemic and whether it will be by a decision of the Parliament or the government will automatically judge that we have a pandemic and will start issuing decrees, Ms. Orfanidou said that article 2 of the bill analyzes what is dangerous infectious disease, noting that "of course it depends on what will happen globally and a decision will be taken immediately by the Council of Ministers".
Regarding how the Parliament will be involved and how the Parliament will authorize the government to immediately declare a pandemic by preparing and promoting the decrees, he said that "this is what we are discussing now, that is, whether this will be done by legislation regulation and whether this authorization will be renewed through the information, which will be made by the competent Ministry to the Parliament ".
"What is being discussed now is exactly how the Parliament will give this authorization. The majority of the Commission has clearly said that this should be done through legislation. "We expect whether this will be included in the new revised text that will come before us," he said.
The Parliamentary Representative of AKEL, George Loukaidis, reminded that in the previous session and in the presence of the Minister they had found the possibility of convergence, noting that they had expressed their relative satisfaction, because for most of the issues raised by AKEL and which were adopted by an overwhelming majority or unanimously by the members of the Committee, the Minister of Health showed a willingness to adopt them and to include them in a revised text.
However, as Mr. Loukaidis said, "unfortunately today it has not been established that in all points there has been compliance and revision of the text, in order to reflect what we asked for as parties, in order to exist as a differentiation in the text".
He regretted that, as he stated, "key issues which we considered to have been agreed upon - and were agreed upon on the basis of the minutes - are ultimately not reflected in the final revised text, which has been submitted to us."
"I am referring to issues that have to do with the heart of this bill, the conditions through which there can be a restriction of human rights. The need for the restriction of human rights to be approved by the Parliament, the need for the continuation of the restriction of human rights to be approved by the Parliament within a regular deadline. "Such issues have not found their place in the text that has been put before us," he said.
Asked by a journalist if they had proposed any mechanisms to solve these problems, he said that they referred to the Constitution again, explaining that "even in the most extreme case, which should be declared a state of emergency due to war, in this case it is necessary in order to restrict human rights, there must be a decision of the Parliament in advance ".
He went on to say that "this decision must be renewed every three months", adding that "at the same time the Constitution clearly stipulates what human rights can be restricted even in case of war".
"Unfortunately, all this was not and is not secured even at the moment we are talking about the government bill, although the Minister of Health agreed to include them," he noted.
According to Giorgos Loukaidis, AKEL will expect and is in a good mood that they will eventually be included, as requested by the Health Committee, and that this very important issue will soon have a positive outcome.
Protest outside the Conference Hall
Dozens of members of the "Victory Movement" protested against the pandemic control measures as the Parliamentary Health Committee debated the revised bill on dangerous infectious diseases.
Protesters called for a referendum to approve pandemic measures.
They also protested why "only in Cyprus are such strict measures imposed", when in other countries the restrictions are constantly relaxed.