Disy MP Orphanidou foregoes civil servant pension

Disy MP Savia Orphanidou on Wednesday announced she would forego the civil servant’s pension which she had been receiving.

She said her monthly pension of €218.47 would be paid into Cyprus’ permanent fund, adding that she had decided to do so “given the fact that until today it has not been possible to comprehensively and homogenously regulate the wider issue of the payment of government pensions to active officials.”

She added that she had sent a letter to Accountant-General Andreas Antoniades to request that her pension now be paid into the permanent fund.

Her party Disy was behind two of the dozen bills tabled at the House finance committee on Monday aimed at regulating the pensions paid to state officials.

The flurry of submissions came after the government had announced its intention to allow state officials to renounce pensions for previous posts directly via a declaration to the finance ministry, rather than by diverting the money to the permanent fund.

Finance Minister Makis Keravnos had said in April the government was determined to continue the effort to cut down on officials also drawing a pension, “always within the confines of the law, to abolish multiple pensions.”

He was keen to stress that the planned replacement for them must be “legally enshrined” to avoid the possibility of proposals not being able to be implemented.