COMMUNICATIONS and Works Minister Averoff Neophytou yesterday admitted he might lead a champagne lifestyle, but insisted his comment that ministerial salaries were too low had been misinterpreted.
In a candid phone interview with the Cyprus Mail, the 41-year-old bachelor minister, said he netted only £2,300 a month after tax from his £42,000 per annum salary, adding he was only trying to point out that, on current salaries, political life in Cyprus was only an option for the rich.
Following a House Committee debate on the issue on Tuesday, Neophytou said his salary was only enough to cover the first 15 days of the month, adding that if he did not have an additional source of income, he would not be able to manage. He wondered how married colleagues with children, especially those studying abroad, could cope.
“First, I would like to repair what has been written about my statement,” Neophytou said. “What I said is that for me the salary wasn’t a factor in taking the decision to accept my appointment as a minister and that the money doesn’t play any role in my life, otherwise I wouldn’t be a politician. I would have been a businessman.”
Neophytou said the question he had been trying to get across was did the people of Cyprus want everyone to have a chance of becoming a minister or did they want the island to reach a stage where only rich people, with additional personal incomes, could become politicians.
“Personally I couldn’t care less if the salary was £2,000 or £10,000 or even if they tell me to pay them £2,000 per month to be a minister, but we have to look at this issue,” he said. “We have to take this issue and have a real public debate about this.”
Neophytou nevertheless admitted to having a full social diary and an image to uphold, but said that since his appointment 28 months ago he had never once taken someone out to lunch or dinner and presented a receipt to his ministry. He also maintains a working office in Paphos where he began his political career, first as Mayor of Polis and later as a deputy.
“I don’t complain about my salary. But the issue is whether the salary of a politician is enough to entice the right people to get involved in politics. That for me is a very serious issue,” he said. However, he admitted that if the salary was £10,000 a month it might tempt people into politics just for the money.
“If the salary was this high, of course everyone would want to become a minister. Then again here, even with zero salaries, everyone would like to become ministers,” he added.
Speaking of his own lifestyle, Neophytou said: “I think it’s not too expensive, but it’s not too cheap either.”
The Minister said he did a lot of socialising and entertaining and as a minister got invited to engagements, weddings and christenings.
“When you get an invitation from a friend you can go without taking anything or you can not even think of inviting them in return. It depends on character. Some people don’t like to socialise and others do. Some take a present of £5 some others may take one of £20.
“Some people can wear a tie from Jet for £5. Some people can wear a Hugo Boss tie for £40 or Boss shoes for £400,” Neophytou said.
Asked which category he fell into, he said: “I’m in the Argaka village category. If you want to live the Gucci lifestyle you’d need a salary of £10,000 per month.”
Neophytou said the bottom line for him was that Cyprus had to decide if it wanted the political arena to be accessible to the rich and the poor and the middle classes alike.
“Or will it always only be accessible to a specific category of our society?” he said. “And by the way,” he added in case anyone might be feeling sorry for him. “I don’t need any donations and I don’t need any money, thank God.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
