The Legislative and Constitutional Committee has reviewed 17 agreements between Egypt and other countries or financial institutions since its formation, said the head of parliamentary committee Bahaa Abou Shaka.
Abou Shaka told Daily News Egypt that the demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia has not been yet presented to the government. The agreements reviewed by the committee so far were for trade and finances.
The committee reviews agreements to find if they relate to Article 151 of the Constitution and whether they require referendums or only need to be presented to the parliament.
The committee reviewed several agreements, including the $243m loan from the Arab Monetary Fund with an interest of 1.2% paid over three years, starting 18 months after receiving the loan.
Abou Shaka said that the committee has been reviewing six laws concerned with amendments to Egypt’s penal code and procedures, as well as other laws on litigation before the Court of Cassation, to ease the burden on the court.
The committee had to reject the anti-graft bill as it expanded the number of those accused. The committee is looking into alternative laws and incentives to make Egypt more appealing to foreign investors.
Abou Shaka said that amending laws requires comparing bills to existing laws and proposed amendments.
The law specifies the method for presenting laws to parliament, where the president, the cabinet, or a member of the parliament can present laws for discussion once 10 other MPs sign on it.
Abou Shaka said that the current parliament approved several agreements and laws in a short period of time, highlighting the review of 300 laws and agreements within 15 days. “This kept the state from falling apart,” he said.
He explained that these aforementioned laws were issued in absence of a parliament, and were approved by former interim president Adly Mansour and President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, which required their review by parliament.
