Dozen bills tabled to deal with multiple pensions

Parties and deputies tabled 11 different bills at the House finance committee on Monday, all aimed at regulating the payment of multiple pensions to state officials.

Of those bills, two were sponsored by Disy, two by Diko and six jointly by Disy’s Demetris Demetriou, Akel’s Irene Charalambidou, Greens’ Stavros Papadouris, and Volt’s Alexandra Attalides. Charalambidou also tabled a bill individually, while another was being prepared by the government.

Committee chairwoman and Diko deputy Christiana Erotokritou spoke about her party leader Nicholas Papadopoulos’ plan, which would entail a suspension of the payment of pensions during an individual’s term in office.

This, she said, would allow the full payable amount to be paid to former state officials, but would ensure that they do not receive both a state salary and a state pension at the same time.

Disy deputy Averof Neophytou said the bill the government had sent to the committee, which would raise the pension age of state officials and deputies from 60 to 65 years old, should be “disconnected” from the debate, as it cannot be challenged on constitutional grounds.

Charalambidou then informed the committee about the six bills which make up the joint proposal she put forth with the three other deputies, as well as the seventh bill she put forward herself.

She said she recommends that state officials’ pensions be paid through the accountant-general’s office and that there be a special high tax levied on pensions which exceed €70,000 per year.

Demetriou told the committee the six proposals “regulate the issue in detail while taking into account those who are already serving”.

Elena Economidou Azina spoke to the committee on behalf of the finance ministry, which proposed that an official could voluntarily waive their right to state pension when serving in a public post. She said a “political decision has been taken” to promote the government’s proposal, for the creation of a voluntary written declaration a state official could sign should they wish to waive their right to multiple pensions.

Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides said the audit office had concluded that the government should address the issue of former public servants aged between 60 and 65 years old who take up a new office and therefore receive a pension and a salary at the same time.

This was no longer possible for ministers and deputies, but mayors and other public officials are still able to claim a salary and a pension at the same time.

Michaelides said planned reforms to the matter should follow the “mould” of the last major reform of public sector payouts, wherein all benefits acquired up to 2012 were “locked in” regardless of any changes to the law.  

He said in the case of multiple pensions, this change could be set for 2026, with all benefits acquired until then locked in.

This, he said, had been the case for President Nikos Christodoulides, who was able to claim the pension he had earned from his time as a foreign ministry employee while still being in full-time employment, first as foreign minister and then as president, despite the reforms which came into law in 2012.

Accountant-general Andreas Antoniades told the committee that multiple pension recipients have no right to renounce them, but that they can pay them back in the form of a donation to the Republic of Cyprus’ permanent fund.