Constitutional amendment

Parliament today held the first vote on which constitutional amendments will be voted on in the Parliament that emerges from the next general election.

In that context, Parliament approved by a one-vote majority the government's proposal to amend Article 3 so as to explicitly establish the religious neutrality of the state.

Conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday reiterated his proposal for the establishment of private universities under the supervision of a strong independent authority and suggested that if ruling SYRIZA votes for all the amendments proposed by New Democracy, his party will do the same.

With the government trailing behind main opposition New Democracy in all opinion polls, despite a barrage of pledges and social benefits, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is attempting to divert attention from the highly unpopular Prespa Agreement to other issues, such as the planned revision of the Greek Constitution by the next parliament.

The Parliament tasked Minister of Health Kiril Ananiev with presenting an action plan by April 1, 2019 with concrete steps for Bulgaria to become a member of Eurotransplant. The MPs unanimously approved the proposal from BSP with 144 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions, Focus News Agency reports.

Greek lawmakers will debate the proposals on the revision of Greece's Constitution on February 12 and 13, House President Nikos Voutsis said on Tuesday, after receiving the report by the constitutional revision committee, the body responsible for examining the legislation.

This will give enough time to MPs and party rapporteurs to discuss the plan, he said.

The Greek Parliament's Constitutional Revision Committee, the body responsible for examining the government's proposed amendments to the Constitution, completed its work on Wednesday night, voting on the entirety of the proposals submitted by Greece's political parties and lawmakers.

The result of the vote, which is not binding for lawmakers, will now be discussed at the plenary.

The name deal signed between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in June stipulates that Athens will launch the process to ratify the agreement only after Skopje has completed its part of the process. Skopje must first notify Athens that its lawmakers have endorsed the deal (Article 1.4.b).

Over the past couple of days we have witnessed fresh efforts by the government to push as many legislative amendments as possible through Parliament in the smallest time possible in order to "tie up" loose ends.

The government does this repeatedly - each time arguing that it is a one-off exception to the rules - triggering the ire of opposition parties.  

A vote by lawmakers in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the final amendments to revise the constitution in accordance with the Prespes accord signed with Greece is expected to be held on January 15, House speaker Talat Xhaferi said Monday.

He said that the parliamentary committees tasked with reviewing the final amendments will convene as of December 17.

There will be no remote electronic voting in the next elections because it cannot guarantee the security of the elections, parliamentary legal committee chair Danail Kirilov, GERB, told BNR this morning.