ADVOCATES for foreign workers are keeping a close watch on the Interior Ministry this week, as it proposes measures for limiting the number of non-Europeans working in Cyprus.
Cyprus currently has the highest proportion of foreign workers compared to any other country in Europe, with one in 10 workers coming from abroad. The workers, one-third of whom are employed as housemaids, are primarily from Sri Lanka and the Philippines, followed by Bulgarians, Greeks, Russians and Romanians.
A ministerial committee convened on Monday to discuss the rise in numbers of foreigners employed on the island. More than 30,000 foreigners work in Cyprus, compared to only 15,000 in 1995.
During its discussion, the committee decided to reduce the maximum duration of foreign workers’ residence to five years from six. The new duration is consistent with proposed EU directives, which state that migrant workers that stay for more than five years must be granted long-term residency and work permits.
Doros Polycarpou, of the Immigration Support Action Group, said the Interior Ministry should consider the benefits of encouraging foreign workers to stay longer, particularly since many of them were involved in a child-care capacity.
“Long-term people can cope better with their duties,” he said. “It’s also better for the family and the children to have stability and consistency.”
Interior Minister Andreas Panayiotou said the government planned to change the employment criteria for housemaids, so as gradually to reduce the numbers of foreigners employed in that capacity. Among other things, the committee decided to raise housemaids’ monthly remuneration to £180 from £150.
The committee’s decisions will be submitted to the Cabinet, Panayiotou said.
With regard to employment strategies, Panayiotou said priority would be given to the Cypriot labour force, followed by citizens of EU countries, citizens of EU-candidate countries, then to citizens of other countries.
Polycarpou criticized this strategy, calling it “blatantly racist.”
“According to European law, all Europeans are equal – you cannot put them after Cypriots,” he said. “And this strategy openly states a preference for Cypriots, then white Europeans, then Asians and Africans, which creates racial divisions”
Charis Kyriakides, former legal advisor to the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties, said the Interior Minister’s announcement reflected recent efforts to reach out to Turkish Cypriot workers.
“They are working on plans for the easiest ways of employing Turkish Cypriots,” Kyriakides said. “We already have this phenomenon concerning the building industry, where we have hundreds of Turkish Cypriots working. And with the EU asking for higher pay for foreigners, why should people employ a foreigner if it costs as much as employing a Cypriot?”
Polycarpou, however, said that Turkish Cypriots should not be considered a new source of cheap labour.
“We should not see the Turkish Cypriots as they were in the past, doing the less desirable jobs,” he said. “But I have the feeling that this is the idea.”
Polycarpou added that even an influx of Turkish Cypriot labour in the near future would not provide a long-term solution to the Cypriot labour shortage.
“In a few years, the north part of the country is going to have a very good development, and they are going to need migrant forces as well,” he said.
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.
