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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-22

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

  • [01] President declines to convey Parliament speaker's objections to prior actions bill
  • [02] PM Alexis Tsipras to meet Parliament President at noon on Thursday
  • [03] Government sources deny rumours of 'extra' prior actions

  • [01] President declines to convey Parliament speaker's objections to prior actions bill

    ANA-MPA -- President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Wednesday replied to a letter sent to him by Parliament President Zoi Konstantopoulou, declining her request to inform his counterparts that proper Constitutional procedures had not been followed in the case of the draft bill on prior actions tabled for approval in Parliament. Pavlopoulos explained that the Constitution did not allow him to inform his counterparts about the claims made in her letter, as she requested. "First, the letter expresses your personal opinions, since there has been no decision of the Parliament in this direction. There is no article in the Constitution, nor in international and European practice, that allows me to inform my Counterparts to this effect, especially when you have the right, which as an esteemed jurist you know, to correspond with them directly. "Secondly, even if it was a decision of the Parliament, the president of the Republic would again, under the Constitution and international and European practice, have no authority nor therefore the means to convey such to his Counterparts. Given that in this case also, the Hellenic Parliament is in no way prevented from addressing them directly."

    Parliament president denounces procedure followed for prior actions bill in letters to PM, President

    In letters sent to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Wednesday, Parliament President Zoi Konstantopoulou denounced the fast-track procedures following in the processing of the second package of prior actions demanded by Greece's creditors, as well as the form of the legislation, saying it flouted Greece's Constitution. In her letter, she referred to a "violent attack on democracy" and said this could not be allowed to happen in the framework of the European Union, and especially not in silence. She asked both the prime minister and the president to inform their respective counterparts in Europe about the violations that had taken place, adding that she would also inform her own counterparts in Europe. Konstantopoulou especially emphasised the fact that the 977-page draft legislation tabled at midnight on July 20 introduced more than 1,008 articles on the code of civil procedure and 130 related to the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) as two single articles, preventing any modification or even time to read them properly, and passing legislation that made major changes to justice and citizens' rights under "conditions of open blackmail". Ministers were being forced to bring legislation that they disagreed with so it could be passed by MPs that also disagreed with its contents, under direct threat of disorderly default, she said. Konstantopoulou also pointed out that the same legislation dated back to the previous government and that bar associations throughout the country held votes that rejected it by percentages exceeding 93 pct in December 2014. The fact that the particular legislation had been selected by the eurosummit governments as a 'prior action' to start talks on a Greek bailout "reflects the depths of these foreign governments' contempt for the principles of parliamentary function, popular rule and finally democracy," she said.

    [02] PM Alexis Tsipras to meet Parliament President at noon on Thursday

    ANA-MPA -- Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will have a meeting with Greece's Parliament President Zoi Konstantopoulou at his offices at noon on Thursday, sources said. Sources close to Konstantopoulou said the prime minister had agreed to her request for a meeting to discuss the letter that she sent to both Tsipras and to President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, urging them to inform their counterparts that the procedures followed in the tabling of the bill for the prior actions demanded of Greece flouted the Constitution.

    In her letter, she referred to a "violent attack on democracy" and said this could not be allowed to happen in the framework of the European Union, and especially not in silence. She asked both the prime minister and the president to inform their respective counterparts in Europe about the violations that had taken place, adding that she would also inform her own counterparts in Europe. Konstantopoulou especially emphasised the fact that the 977-page draft legislation tabled at midnight on July 20 introduced more than 1,008 articles on the code of civil procedure and 130 related to the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) as two single articles, preventing any modification or even time to read them properly, and passing legislation that made major changes to justice and citizens' rights under "conditions of open blackmail". Ministers were being forced to bring legislation that they disagreed with so it could be passed by MPs that also disagreed with its contents, under direct threat of disorderly default, she said.

    [03] Government sources deny rumours of 'extra' prior actions

    ANA-MPA -- Government sources on Wednesday dismissed rumours that Greece's creditors will demand additional prior actions in order to begin talks on a third Greek bailout, pointing to statements made on Wednesday by European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici. The sources said the rumorus were part of an attempt to cultivate a negative political climate for the government, and noted Moscovici's statement that the measures that Greece has to pass in Parliament for talks with the institutions to begin are only those listed in the Eurozone summit announcement of July 12.
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