Cyprus Mail 4 June 2020 - by George Psyllides
House President Demetris Syllouris had proposed a code of ethics earlier this year
The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body Greco (Group of States against Corruption), said Wednesday Cyprus was among the 14 countries which had not yet fully implemented any of its recommendations concerning MPs.
In its latest report, Greco said that as of December 31, 2019, Cyprus had fully implemented two of the 16 recommendations issued. Eight recommendations had been partly implemented and six recommendations had not been implemented.
Greco said countries were falling behind on battling corruption when it comes to MPs.
The percentage of countries implementing Greco’s recommendations on tackling corruption among politicians was around 26 per cent.
“That’s very low,” said Gianluca Esposito, secretary-general of GRECO.
The recommendations for politicians included rules on receiving gifts, donations and other benefits. If any are accepted they should be recorded, says Greco, including the type of gift and the donor, to improve transparency.
House President Demetris Syllouris had proposed a code of ethics earlier this year, which had been criticised and ridiculed by the media and MPs themselves.
The media said the 155-page tome contained provisions that supressed free speech, freedom of information and transparency. It also includes provisions regulating relations between deputies and journalists as well as stipulating what type of articles deputies can have published.
Any discussion about the code was abandoned as the coronavirus crisis gripped the island.
