The Chamber of Councilors closed, on Tuesday, the first session of the legislative year 2021-2022, in accordance with the provisions of article 65 of the Constitution and article 6 of the internal regulations of the Chamber.
In a speech delivered on this occasion, the President of the House of Councillors, Naama Mayara, affirmed that on the legislative level, the second House adopted two bills, the first of which creating the national agricultural register, while the second amends and completes the law establishing the National Institute of Agronomic Research.
The Chamber also adopted a bill governing the operations of collection and distribution of donations for charitable purposes and the bill amending and supplementing the Dahir on the general statute of the public service, in addition to a bill relating to the abolition and liquidation of the pensions of members of the House of Councillors, he added.
It also concerns the bill relating to covered bonds, the draft regulation law relating to the execution of the Finance Act-2020, and two bills amending and supplementing the law relating to copyright and neighboring rights and reorganizing the Moroccan Office of Authors’ Rights and Neighboring Rights, as well as the approval of the bill relating to judicial organization (in second reading) and the organic bill on the unconstitutionality of a law and a bill on the creation and organization of a common foundation of social works for the benefit of public administration staff.
Concerning the action of control, Mr. Mayara affirmed that the Chamber took care, through its bodies, to examine important topical subjects, recalling that the permanent committees followed interventions of members of the government in particular on inflation , financing mechanisms by banks for SMEs and VSEs in the presence of the Wali of Bank Al Maghrib, maritime transport and subsidies granted to transport professionals in the face of rising energy product prices.
The Chamber also discussed the contribution of the National Agency for Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography to the promotion of investment and the future of Moroccan students affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as the projects of creation of multidisciplinary faculties in certain regions of the Kingdom, university scholarships and the opening of additional credits for 2022 to cover expenses related to the gas, wheat and sugar subsidy, according to Mr. Mayara.
The debates also focused on the government’s vision concerning the reform of income tax and certain provisions of the organic law relating to the finance law, the draft national report of the universal periodic review mechanism and the draft of the second national report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Chamber has, on the other hand, scheduled a presentation by the Minister of Economy and Finance on the execution of the first 6 months of the 2022 finance law and the presentation of the main lines of the 2023 finance bill before on July 31, in accordance with the provisions of the organic finance law, he said.
With regard to oral questions, questions were addressed to 21 departments on topical subjects, continued Mr. Mayara, noting that the presidency received 27 requests to speak on urgent subjects at the end of the sessions of the oral questions, of which 11 were accepted by the government, i.e. 41%.
The Chamber also held two monthly sessions of the Head of Government’s responses to questions relating to general policy in accordance with Article 100 of the Constitution, he said, recalling that these sessions focused on the themes of the investment and employment and education reform.
On another note, he said that the Chamber received 717 questions during this session, of which 280 received a response from the government during 13 plenary sessions, including 149 topical questions.
Addressing the evaluation of public policies, Mr. Mayara affirmed that the debates focused on the strategies of the ministerial departments in connection with youth, food and health security, noting that the Chamber has set up two thematic groups on security food and health whose reports were examined during the plenary sessions of 18 and 19 July.
In addition, a joint plenary session of parliament was devoted on May 11 to the presentation and examination of the report of the first president of the Court of Auditors for 2019-2020, he indicated, recalling the reports carried out by the Court of Auditors at the request of the Chamber, as well as the signing of a cooperation agreement with IRCAM.
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