According to the Auditor General, the pension of a former President of the Republic amounts to €8,000 per month, and therefore “is not a person unable to purchase a vehicle with his own means'.
The limitation of car acquisition benefits and secretarial employment allowance to five years, instead of for life, for the former Presidents of the Republic and the former Presidents of the House of Representatives, was considered by the Institutions Committee, following a proposal for a law filed by the MP Alexandra Attalidou .
A proposal on the same issue was submitted to the Finance Committee in 2021 by Stavros Papadouris, MP of the Environmentalists, but it had not been discussed until today.
With her proposal, < Mrs. Attalidousuggested that the benefits to which former officials are entitled should not be for life, but for a period of five years. In particular, he proposes to limit to five years, the secretary's employment allowance and the period during which they are entitled to a vehicle. Regarding the employment of a secretary, Mrs. Attalidou recommends that this be paid directly by the Republic on behalf of the official, while she also suggests that this be done on the basis of a private law employment contract and that the amount be equivalent to the A2-5 scale- 7, instead of the €3,000 monthly fund that applies today.
In addition, it recommends that in case the officials request security measures from the Ministry of Justice a decision of the Council of Ministers will be required, in which the duration will be determined, as well as the re-evaluation of the necessity, with notification of the Parliament. p>
In the context of the discussion of the issue in the Institutions Committee, the President of the Parliament, Annita Dimitriou, in her statements, indicated her intention to file a law proposal on the same subject, expressing her personal position that lifelong benefits should be abolished.
Specifically, the Speaker of the House said that she proposes the abolition of the lifetime concession of a state vehicle at the end of the term and proposes the determination of a termination time, noting that she renounces this benefit. In addition, it proposes that the granting of security measures to former officials be approved only on the recommendation of the Police and that a re-evaluation clause be introduced every 5 years.
For the secretarial support allowance, he requested that it be granted in terms of transparency regarding the procedures for assigning work and payment of fees. “Among other things, the purpose must be to record and classify the file and the deeds of the former official's tenure with the delivery of the result to the State Archives and the maintenance of international relations and contacts beneficial to Cyprus”, he noted, underlining that the revised regulations they should apply to any and all past, present and future high government officials.
Within the Committee on Institutions, the Chairman of the Committee, DISY MP, Dimitris Dimitriou, stated that the Parliamentary Services had been asked to prepare an investigation into what is applicable in other states members of the EU, noting that the discussion on the matter will continue after the investigation in question is prepared.
On the question of providing a police guard, Mr. Dimitriou said that if there are security reasons
b>the Police recommends the provision or not of guards. Referring to the secretary's allowance, he said that ex-officials should be supported. If the Parliament has the ability to provide this support, fine, he said. Otherwise, “let's not go to the logic of excommunication and humiliation and nullify everything”.
The Deputy Minister to the President, Irini Piki, said that he agreed that what is being done in other countries should be examined, as well as with the proposal to examine the issues of benefits as a whole. He emphasized that accountability is very important, as is the need for modernization. He expressed reservations about the question of the General Accounting Office paying the secretaries' salaries, while, on the issue of security measures, he said that since it is not currently provided for in the law, it is not right to include it.
From on his side, the Auditor General, Odysseas Michaelidis, noted that it cannot be introduced into legislation that former officials will request protection from the Minister of Justice, as this is a matter for the decision of the Police. In addition, he noted that in a previous intervention by the Audit Service, the Police said that when it judges that someone needs security, they can grant them a car for exclusive use, citing a “loophole”, as well as for the Parliament to decide to stop the benefit of the car, this may continue to be given by the Police.
He added that the pension of a former President of the Republic amounts to €8,000 per month, and therefore “he is not a person without the ability to buy a vehicle with his own means”.
Regarding the secretary employment allowance ,the Auditor General said that, according to an opinion on the funds of the parties for election purposes, if the funds are not used for the intended purpose, they must be returned. He said he would ask the Ministry of Finance for a list of names of the people employed by the former officials as secretaries, to check the proper use of the fund.
Indicatively, he said that the fund in 2023 amounted to €39,089 to each official for the employment of a secretary. Since 2004 that he has data, he said that the fund received by the former President of the Republic Giorgos Vassiliou to date amounts to €709,000, the former Speaker of the Parliament, from 2011 to date Marios Karoyan got €364,000, from 2016 Giannakis Omirou €279,000, the former Speaker of the Parliament Dimitris Syllouris €64,000 from 2021 and the former President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiadis €20,000 from 2021 to date.
In addition, he said that the Department of Electromechanical Services maintains data regarding officials' vehicles, their purchase and maintenance costs. He clarified that the vehicles are for exclusive use, while the fuel is paid for by the Republic of Cyprus.
AKEL MP Irini Charalambidou said that it is time for Cypriot society to start keeping pace with other European countries. He noted that we have officials who have disgraced the Republic, who are under trial. He highlighted the issue of accountability and transparency, noting that if officials are entitled to a secretary they must show proof that they are paying for the position. He noted that the state has institutionalized abuses against the citizen. Addressing the Deputy Minister to the President, Irini Piki, she said that “if you put your hand where it is needed to correct wrongs, acquisitions that should not have been given, I will be by your side”.
The MP of DISY, Nikos Georgiou said that the former President of the Republic and former Speaker of the Parliament is high on the protocol, above the Attorney General. He said it's a matter of respect in the political world. He noted that streamlining is needed, but not flattening.
The MP of DIKO, Zacharias Koulias said that the parliamentary group of DIKO will not approve such proposals, noting that the problem is not the secretary of a former President of the Republic or Speaker of the Parliament.
The MP of DIPA Marinos Mousioutas proposed the establishment of a joint committee of executive and legislative power to examine all the benefits of officials, be it multiple pensions or first class airline tickets or the benefits discussed in the Committee.
The MP of the Environmental Movement, Stavros Papadouris, in his statements after the discussion of the matter in the Committee, said that his own proposal says that it is not justified to have the benefits that the former officials have and proposes their abolition. A former President of the Republic, he said, enjoys “a very serious” pension and if he needs the services of a secretary in individual cases, he can hire one himself. Regarding Mrs. Attalidou's proposal, she noted that in the effort to limit the benefits, for the first time the possibility for a former official to request the provision of security guards is mentioned in legislation, something that does not exist in the basic legislation.
Independent MP Andreas Themistokleous said that the issue came up several times. He noted that the former President should have a decent car and bodyguard, noting that former officials have a heavy burden of secretarial work and the allowance of a secretary is justified. He said it's a matter of prestige, substance, and that “we're not all the same.”
