Cafeteria parliament .. Kitchen deals and station for the rest of the deputies and the circuit for t

Cafeteria parliament .. Kitchen deals and station for the rest of the deputies and the circuit for their battles


 Baghdad / Mohammed Sabah

Iraqis are simply following their parliamentary news through the media service of the House of Representatives from registration subject to strict editing. Stubborn statements and positions under the parliament led to a ban on live broadcasts of the sessions.
In parallel to the meetings held under the dome of the House of Representatives, most Iraqis do not know the role of the cafeteria Parliament, which turned into a "parliament Rdeif" to mature deals, and resolve differences between the various parties.
The role of the cafeteria was highlighted by the 2007 bombing that killed and wounded some MPs. Former MP Mohammed al-Daini was accused of being behind him. The cafeteria also witnessed informal meetings adopted by former Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, after the 2010 elections, to break the parliament's open session that lasted for several months.
The courtyard on the first floor of the Palais des Congrès has been reserved as a resting place for deputies. The cafeteria occupies a large part of the lobby and is heavily guarded against the entry of non-deputies through the three-lane checkpoints leading directly to the main gate of the meeting hall.
Usually, a large number of deputies drop out of the sessions preferring to stay in the cafeteria, which overlooks the hall of meetings, to exchange talk on a few tables of different sizes.
Deputies confirm that the overcrowding of the parliament's cafeteria is at its peak when the legislative session approaches its end.
Over the past years, the cafeteria has witnessed many quarrels between deputies, which sometimes reach tangled hands, but it ends with the intervention of some mediators from the parliamentarians who arrange reconciliation sessions between the deputies and the conflicting parties.
MPs complain about the cafeteria that has recently been restored to life. After MPs had the best food and drink, they found only tea, coffee and water, plus a
very poor Internet service .
"Most of the problems and differences that occur between the parliamentary blocs and the committees are resolved in the cafeteria of the House of Representatives through discussions and negotiations," said Tafka Ahmed, head of the Parliamentary Committee of Civil Society Organizations. "Collecting signatures is always done during
breaks."
"It is not possible to discuss controversial issues within the parliamentary sessions, and therefore prefer the parliamentary blocs or committees to withdraw to the cafeteria to discuss these details," the Kurdish deputy said in a statement. "In some points of disagreement, the Presidency of the Council requests the withdrawal of the parties abroad in order to reach a consensus decision."
The head of the civil society committee notes that "many of the verbal arguments that occur during the course of the meetings go back to the cafeteria, which directly supervises the parliamentary hall."
The Kurdish MP expressed surprise that "the return of work cafeteria Council, which is limited to pastries and some drinks, such as tea and coffee, with the presidency of the parliament to deduct for the hospitality of each deputy up to 500 thousand dinars a month." She revealed that "the closure of the cafeteria was due to fear of repeated attempts to penetrate, as happened in the first session, a number of deputies suffered cases of poisoning due to cafeteria food."
"There is a negative side of the parliament cafeteria," said Tafka Ahmed. "Some MPs prefer to sit in the hearings."
MP Hisham al-Suhail, a coalition of state law, said that "most of the deputies sit in the cafeteria of the Council to discuss some legal and controversial issues." But he stressed that "some MPs sit for long periods in the cafeteria because of the boredom of the performance of the work of the House of Representatives."
"At the end of each parliamentary session, the cafeteria of the House of Representatives is crowded at the expense of the meeting hall," Suhail said. "The Speaker of the House of Representatives sometimes goes out and sits in the cafeteria to solve some problems."
"More than a month ago, the Presidency of the House of Representatives reinstated the Parliament cafeteria by providing drinks that are limited to tea and coffee only," he said.
"In previous sessions, the cafeteria was full of food, drink and all entertainment from high-quality Internet and others," he said.
But the situation is different now, according to Suhail, who confirms that "the Internet lines in the cafeteria almost paralyzed and very weak, and placed in a way that makes the MP alienate them, sometimes forced to enter the password once every hour or two.
A member of the state of law that "because of the bad Internet, the majority of deputies for this service are sufficient to rely on their personal phone."


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