House votes to scrap Grains Commission

Parliament on Thursday voted to scrap the Grains Commission, a semi-governmental entity that had been running up big deficits in recent years.

Under another bill, the competences and staff of the Grains Commission were transferred over to the ministry of agriculture.

And a third bill regulates stock maintenance for feed materials and grains for human consumption.

The Grains Commission was established 67 years ago.

In a statement, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis welcomed the entity’s closure, thanking opposition parties for their cooperation despite any misgivings on the matter.

In other legislative business on Thursday, the House plenum passed a law extending the duration of the labour minister’s emergency powers to promulgate special benefits – such as leaves of absence and special unemployment benefits – related to the coronavirus situation.

Parliament also gave the nod to the 2021 budgets of the Cyprus Land Development Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Digital Security Authority.

The Cyprus Land Development Corporation’s balance sheet provides for expenditures €18.4 million; the Securities and Exchange Commission €11.8 million; and the Digital Security Authority €7.2 million.