Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal told MPs Monday that the discussion of the amendment will begin only after the debate on the state’s new 2016-2017 budget has been finalised. Parliament will take a final vote on the budget after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday which ends on 10 July.
The press law amendment flew through parliament’s Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee at a meeting held on 14 June. The amendment, proposed by independent MP and journalist Mustafa Bakri and 324 other MPs, would change Article 86 of the Press Law (Law 96/1996) to allow the president of the republic to issue a decree that gives him the power to appoint a Higher Press Council until a new law on the regulation of the press is passed by parliament.