The House Committee on Institutions discussed on Wednesday the establishment of a legal framework aimed at ensuring transparency, accountability, and responsibility through the mandatory online publication of laws and public decisions via the digital platform “Transparency.”

The Committee also examined a proposal to create a Public Contracts Registry designed to improve oversight, enhance transparency, and provide clearer information on the awarding and implementation of public contracts.

Speaking after the session, Committee Chair and DISY MP Dimitris Dimitriou stated that “the best antidote to corruption is transparency.”

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He stressed the need to provide citizens and public officials with effective transparency tools, ensuring that government decisions are publicly accessible. “This is what we aim to achieve with the ‘Transparency’ platform,” he said.

Dimitriou added that the article-by-article discussion of the bill has been completed. “We understand there are difficulties — legal, administrative, and functional obstacles raised by the Legal Service and the executive branch,” he noted.

He explained that the Committee will seek to amend the bill to address these concerns and mitigate resistance: “We hope we will succeed,” he added.

When asked about the nature of the objections, Dimitriou said they are constitutional, administrative, and operational, citing concerns such as potential increased costs from the need to duplicate decisions on existing websites and the new platform, or whether Parliament has the authority to compel the state to establish such a system.

Once the necessary revisions are made, the matter will be brought back before the Committee for further discussion.

On the second issue, Green Party leader Stavros Papadouris, who co-sponsored the bill with DIPA MP Marinos Moushiouttas, said the idea arose after observing numerous public projects that remain incomplete. “In the interest of transparency, we decided it was time to establish a Public Contracts Registry,” Papadouris explained.

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The registry, he said, would serve two purposes:

1. To help contracting authorities access the track record of companies before awarding projects, and

2. To allow the public to see which companies have undertaken which projects and assess their performance history.

Papadouris added that, according to the Audit Office, the registry would assist its work by providing information that is often received late — or not at all. It could also support internal audits within ministries regarding the projects they implement.

“No one disagreed with the proposal — not the Legal Service, the Treasury, the Authority, NGOs, or the Audit Office,” he noted. “Everyone recognizes how much this registry will help improve both transparency and guidance for contracting authorities.”

He added that minor amendments were proposed and accepted, including the enrichment of registry data following suggestions from the Authority and the Audit Office.

“The goal is shared,” Papadouris said. “We want to cooperate to promote transparency and ensure that contracting authorities have all the necessary safeguards to award projects to reliable companies with proven records, in full compliance with tender requirements.”