At least 50 MPs from the three parties of the Papademos coalition government refused to vote in favour of several articles of the multi-bill, while deputies, who are lawyers by profession, did not appear at all in the Greek Parliament. 50 socialist PASOK deputies refused to vote several articles, while the parliamentary groups of conservative Nea Dimokratia and far-right LAOS refused to vote the bill article concerning the opening hours of the pharmacies, raising objection about the way the article was introduced in the multi-bill.
Among those PASOK defiant MPs was party spokesman Panos Beglitis.
those MPs from Nea Dimokratia, who are lawyers by profession, chose to be absent during the voting protesting the bill provisions related to law companies.
The multi-bill provisions that were down-voted by the coalition government MPs were the articles concerning:
the merger of public sector bodies and companies, the opening of the profession of trucks owners and thelawyers, the sale of public properties, the “liberation’ of the working hours of the pharmacies, the cutting of bonuses to pensioners of insurance agencies.
It looks as if socialist PASOK did not manage to maintain its famous ‘party line’ where MPs used to vote in favor of every law, bill and article Papandreou’s government would bring int the parliament and the rebels would see the exit door hardly the voting was over.
It looks also as the professions of lawyers and the working hours of pharmacies would remain as such. “Strong lobby”, we call it 🙂
One more argument for forbidding having a profession while sitting in parliament, like in a lot of countries. But even then, any decent parliamentarian should be able to consider thing about his/her profession in the light of the good of the whole country. But these people can only think and take care of their own wallet and are proving again where the real problem lies.