Members of the parliamentary Finance Committee are seeking ways to overcome constitutional and legal obstacles surrounding proposed legislation to abolish multiple pensions and the simultaneous payment of pensions and salaries to active state officials.
As discussions on the legislative package intensify, committee members increasingly recognise the difficulty in covering existing state officials due to court decisions that consider pensions as property assets and address the issue of pension expectation rights.
After receiving another rejection from the Law Office, which argued that the proposed laws neither effectively abolish multiple pensions nor constitutionally justify pension deprivation, parliamentarians are now conducting consultations to find a formula that would withstand potential legal challenges.
To address these concerns, Green Party MP Stavros Papadouris is developing an amendment to be incorporated into the legislative package that would apply the regulation only to newly elected or appointed officials.
Under the proposed legislation, officials’ pension rights would be fully secured until 1 June 2026, with benefits payable at age 60, while remaining entitlements would become available at age 65.
Additionally, all official pensions would be calculated collectively, with beneficiaries receiving two-thirds of their highest pension. Professional pensions for officials would continue to run concurrently.
The Green Party representative believes this specific change addresses issues raised by the courts regarding expectation rights and the classification of pensions as property assets. The amendment will be presented to MPs at the next meeting of the parliamentary Finance Committee.
Technical experts from the Finance Ministry are attempting to codify the legislative proposals and outline potential consequences of their implementation.
A government source told philenews that if approved, the party proposals would be difficult to implement due to their complexity, suggesting they might create more confusion rather than resolve existing problems.
Meanwhile, beyond the aforementioned legislative package, proposals to increase the pension eligibility age for officials from 60 to 65 and allow voluntary pension waiver will also be approved.
Regarding government bills, the majority of political parties refuse to discuss them, considering they would transform multiple pensions into multiple gratuities. DISY insists the legislative proposals should be approved before Easter.
DISY MP Onoufrios Koulla stated that the unacceptable and provocative phenomena of multiple pensions and simultaneous payment of salary and pension must end.
He maintained that the government bill neither addresses the problem for active officials nor touches on the issue of simultaneous salary and pension payments.
“On the contrary, it provides more benefits to existing elected and appointed officials. Our political ethics do not allow us to vote for such a measure,” he concluded.
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