The House of Representatives adopted on Tuesday, by majority vote (30 for, 26 against), an amended privatisation of semi governmental organizations (SGOs) bill, amid a heated debate.

Lawmakers had rejected last Thursday a first draft of the bill, with 25 votes against, 25 in favour and 5 abstentions.

The bill provides the legal framework which oversees the privatisation of state owned organisations as well as the establishment of relevant bodies in charge of the process.

The amended bill, containing amendments proposed by the former junior government coalition party (DIKO) which had been originally rejected by the plenary last Thursday, was submitted to Parliament on Tuesday through an emergency process.

Ruling centre right party DISY, centre party DIKO, right wing party EVROKO and Famagusta MP Zacharias Koulias voted for the adoption of the bill into law. Left wing opposition party AKEL, social democratic KS EDEK, the Greens and the newly formed Citizens’ Alliance voted against the bill. There were no abstentions.

The Parliamentary Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs had met earlier on in the day and discussed the bill in its amended form, in the presence of Finance Minister Harris Georgiades and Attorney General Costas Clerides. The meeting was not open to the public.

During the plenary it was pointed out that the inclusion of a new article in the bill, which safeguards the working and pension rights for SGOs’ staff, was made possible after negotiations with Cyprus’ international lenders (EC, ECB, IMF), collectively known as the troika.

AKEL MPs argued that the bill was contrary to the Constitution, noting that the same bill cannot be submitted for a vote before the plenary once it has been rejected, without any significant amendments in its provisions.

On the other hand DISI and DIKO MPs maintained that the inclusion of amendments in the new draft bill resulted in significant changes, while the approval by the troika of a new article within the text constitutes a new development which should be put before the plenary for review.

At the same time it was noted that new provisions have been included which have to do with safeguarding national security issues and informing the House on the identity of the person to be placed in charge of the privatisations process before his or her appointment.

In late March 2013 the Cypriot authorities agreed with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, collectively known as the Troika, on a €10 billion bailout.

One of the bailout’s preconditions was the implementation of a privatizations’ plan covering the disposal of Cyprus Telecommunications Authority and the Cyprus Ports Authority by 2016 and the Cyprus Electricity Authority by 2018 to generate €1.4 billion in order to restore public debt sustainability.

March 5 is the deadline for meeting these commitments set out in Cyprus’ bailout programme.