The plenary of the House of Representatives will meet at 9.30am on Wednesday to approve the composition of the parliamentary committees and to elect the members of the Special Parliamentary Committee on the Code of Conduct for Members of the House.
Earlier, at 8.30am, the Selection Committee will meet again to confirm the committee chairmanships allocated to each party, the names of the MPs taking up those positions, and the overall membership of each committee.
The number of committees remains at 16, with 12 members on each. As agreed last week following a lengthy session of the Selection Committee, DISY and AKEL will each take five chairmanships, while ELAM and DIKO will take three each.
DISY will chair the committees on Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Health, and Legal Affairs and Institutions. AKEL will chair the committees on Interior, Labour, Agriculture, Refugees, and Human Rights.
ELAM will chair the committees on Defence, Environment and Transport, while DIKO retains the chairmanships of the Finance, Education and Audit committees.
The parties are still finalising which MPs will take up the chairmanships and how representation will be divided.
Based on information available so far, George Karoullas is expected to take over the Foreign Affairs committee, Foteini Tsiridou the Legal Affairs committee, Savia Orphanidou the Health committee, and Nicos Georgiou the Commerce committee. The chairmanship of the Institutions committee, currently held by parliamentary spokesman Demetris Demetriou, is expected to be shared between Charalambos Pazaros and Prodromos Alambritis.
At AKEL, Aristos Damianou, Yiannakis Gavriel and Nicos Kettiros are set to retain the chairmanships of the Interior, Agriculture and Refugees committees respectively. Giorgos Koukoumas appears likely to take over the Labour committee, with Marina Nicolaou taking the Human Rights committee.
At ELAM, the party's list so far points to Evgenios Chamboullas chairing the Defence committee, Sotiris Ioannou the Transport committee, and Linos Papayiannis the Environment committee, a post AKEL had been keen to secure for itself.
At DIKO, Christiana Erotokritou remains chair of the Finance committee, as does Zacharias Koulias at the Audit committee, while Chrysanthos Savvides is set to chair the Education committee.
Key issues on the agenda until mid-July
Based on statements made by the parties in recent weeks, their priorities for the parliamentary session have already taken shape. The upcoming pension reform, the housing crisis, support for households facing the cost of living, outstanding reforms to local government and the justice system, as well as migration and energy issues, are expected to be the main topics occupying parliament until mid-July. No specific dates have yet been set for the various committee sittings.
As it does every year, parliament will hold a special plenary session marking the anniversary of the 1974 coup and the Turkish invasion. President Nikos Christodoulides is expected to attend the commemorative sitting.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
