Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal arrived in Geneva Sunday, where he is scheduled to discuss fields of cooperation between the Egyptian parliament and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) with the president of the IPU. Abdel Aal will also lead a delegation of Egyptian MPs to participate in the 10th Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean on 18 and 19 February in Tirana, Albania, according to the official website of the Egyptian parliament. Meanwhile the Ministers' Cabinet should present its programme to the House of Representatives on 27 February, Minister of Transitional Justice and Parliament Affairs Magdy El–Agaty said. In statements to TV channels Saturday evening, El-Agaty also said the government is close to finding a solution to the Civil Service Law, which from the majority of MPs rejected during the session in which they voted on decrees with the force of law issued before parliamentary elections.
This comes as President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi officially inaugurated the parliament in a speech Saturday, during which he addressed MPs on democracy and the need for the country to move from a transitional to a launching period.
Despite some interruption by MPs, such as one asking the president to discuss the Renaissance Dam, Al-Sisi ignored them and carried on with his speech, also not mentioning the Doctors' Syndicate crisis. MP Haitham Al-Hariri said in press statements he had hoped the president would address the issue.
The parliament also witnessed the attendance of MP Serry Seyam, who had submitted his resignation amid efforts by his colleagues for him to retract it. A series of resignations hit the so-called ‘Egypt Support' coalition, leading it to shrink to just 250 members after it announced that it exceeded 300 members.
