MPs will release full details of their advisors

MPs and political parties will be releasing the names and information of their advisers, it was announced at the House ethics committee on Wednesday.

This follows the release of the names of advisers at the presidential palace and ministries.

Junior government-supporting party Dipa released the list of its seven associates, while opposition Akel announced that it will proceed with the publication of the relevant list within days.

At the same time, the head of the committee, opposition Disy MP Demetris Demetriou announced the intention to amend the relevant legislation in order to make the publication of the details of the advisers of MPs mandatory, but also to tighten the criteria in relation to the degree of their kinship with MPs.

The subject of the committee’s discussion was the publication of the names of the president’s and ministers’ advisers, after the government initially chose to publish only their initials, citing protection of personal rights.

However, a few days ago, the government finally released an updated list, including their full names.

The committee was attended by the undersecretary to the president Irene Piki and the data protection commissioner Irene Loizou Nicolaidou, who were invited to answer the questions of the MPs on the reason for initially publishing only the initial names of the advisers.