The Plenary of the House of Representatives unanimously approved the amendment of the law regulating the employment of former government officials and civil servants in the private sector, strengthening the control framework to avoid conflicts of interest.
The law proposal was submitted by Member of Parliament Andreas Pasiourtidis on behalf of the AKEL-Left New Forces parliamentary group and was amended during the debate in the Parliamentary Committee on Institutions, Values and Commissioner of Administration.
Based on the final text that was voted, the definition of "state official" now also includes Deputy Ministers. Furthermore, the obligation to secure a license before taking up work in the private sector is still valid for a period of two years after leaving office.
Under the proposal, former officials are required to submit a six-monthly declaration to the relevant independent commission that they are complying with the terms of the license, while the commission must communicate its decisions to both the applicant and the prospective employer.
An obligation to inform the committee of any significant change in employment conditions is also introduced, with the possibility of reviewing and amending the conditions that have been set.
Criminal offenses are also established for submitting false or inaccurate information or failing to disclose changes affecting a potential conflict of interest.
The rapporteur Andreas Pasiourtidis said that in the wake of the infamous videogate that many would like to forget and through the discussion in the institutions committee it became clear that the existing legislation has serious gaps.
He said that the proposal comes to fill these gaps and corrects various distortions.
Mr. Pasiourtidis said that the executive power's intention to unify the independent commission with the commission on the irreconcilable may resolve issues but the main thing is that it remains vacant due to staffing of the commission which must have the tools to comply with the legislation.
The MP of DIKO Pavlos Mylonas said that the proposal is in the right direction but "as we go in a few years we will also want a police officer behind every politician".
