MPs threaten sit-downs over snub from ministers

MPs on Tuesday threatened to turn activist and do sit-downs blocking the entrances of ministry buildings, in protest at what they call an ongoing snub by government officials.

At the House ad hoc committee on demographics, lawmakers said their symbolic action would be a last resort, aiming to draw attention to the fact that ministers or permanent secretaries summoned to the committee often do not bother showing up, sending underlings in their place.

Diko’s Pavlos Mylonas said the next time ministers send lower-ranking officials to represent them in parliamentary debates, MPs would do a sit-down at ministry buildings to highlight this “unacceptable lack of a sense of responsibility”.

Legislators also expressed frustration at the non-convening of the national agency for demographic policy.

The minister of labour was supposed to have reconvened the agency last week, but it never happened. Instead, MPs learned the agency would meet in September.

On the issue of irregular migration, committee chair Linos Papayiannis said there is a link between ‘colonisation’ in the north and increased migratory flows.

The Turks, as he put it, are implementing an expansionist policy based on increasing the number of Turkish settlers in the north while at the same driving irregular migrants to the south to alter its demographics.

He referred to methods used, such as migrants ‘losing’ their documents before crossing over into the south, and the ‘intentional’ flows from African countries, arriving on the island via Turkey.

Papayiannis described government policies as ineffective, and called on the administration to “change approach”.

The MP also referred to the mooted junior ministry for migration. He said that simply having this ministry in place would be “no panacea” unless the political will existed to effect change.

The government has tabled legislation creating a junior ministry for migration. The ins and outs of the bill will be discussed in upcoming committee sessions.

Coming back, Mylonas recalled that it has been three years since he submitted ‘evidence’ about human trafficking rings to the police, the attorney-general and the auditor-general.

He likewise spoke of a lack of long-term political will to deal with the issue, but said he was willing to give the new administration a small grace period.

For his part, Dipa MP Alekos Tryfonides cited statistics according to which some 30,000 asylum applications are pending. Although authorities have hired 92 additional employees to process applications, the situation is “extremely difficult”.

In addition, of the 15,500 cases examined last year only 7,500 were deported back to their country.