Fighting red tape with more red tape

THE HOUSE Commerce Committee has decided to appoint a special committee to deal with red tape as a means of saving the state millions in lost man hours, it said yesterday.

Speaking after the Committee meeting, Committee Chairman, DISY’s Lefteris Christoforou said parliament deemed that bureaucracy was a major hitch in the state’s growth, especially when it turned against the rights and best interests of Cypriots.

“In a time of economic crisis reducing bureaucracy will lead to a significant increase of public funds and a reduction in expenditure so we have decided to appoint a special committee that will be continually occupied with the issue so we can combat bureaucracy effectively,” said Christoforou.

“We are launching war against bureaucracy. Enough hassle for the Cypriot public. Just because someone came up with 30 or 40 procedures to issue a simple construction licence or a certificate or to create a business.”

Christoforou said the government had been asked to register the exact cost of bureaucracy and the effects it is having on the economy.

AKEL’s Yiannakis Gavriel said the government was already dealing with the issue by carrying out a survey, which will presented at parliament at a later date.

“(The study) will show how and which sectors are affected by bureaucracy in the public service,” Gavriel explained.

DIKO MP Angelos Votsis added that the Committee sought to find out the extent of the problem and the measures that were being taken to combat it.

“It seems that a national action plan started in 2007, which is also part of our obligations to the EU, with the aim of achieving a 20 per cent reduction of administrative taxes in the public service by 2012,” said Votsis.

The plan and subsequent measures, he added, will be presented to the committee by the Department of Administration and Staff soon – “so we can assure Cypriots that the authorities are starting to deal with this problem”.

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.