CYPRUS’ TERM at the helm of the EU rotating presidency next year will cost an estimated €66m but does this figure take into consideration the true extent of overtime that civil servants will demand, asked an EU expert yesterday.
“Civil servants go home at 2.30pm in Cyprus, which is 1.30pm Brussels time. If the state pays overtime to these civil servants during the six-month presidency, it could break the back of the state,” said an expert familiar with the EU institutions.
The expert who wished to remain anonymous questioned whether the state has considered negotiating with the civil service to reach some sort of a one-off agreement for the presidency, which Cyprus will inherit from Denmark in July 2012.
Top civil servants who’ve experienced six-month presidencies with other EU countries have been known “not to sleep for six months”, due to the massive pressures on the country holding the presidency.
“They need to strike a deal with the civil service. The only other option is to go private,” said the expert.
An article in yesterday’s Politis included information on the provisional budget for the Cyprus 2012 Presidency. The total budget submitted and approved by cabinet reportedly stands at €65.9m to be spent between 2011 and 2013. No one from the Secretariat of the Cyprus Presidency was available to confirm the numbers yesterday.
According to Politis, the government will secure the services of around 200 people from the private sector to cover staff needs in the second half of 2012. The ministries and independent services of the Republic initially requested double the number, but cost cutting kicked in and the figure was limited to 200, at an estimated cost of €18.2m.
The government will try to keep costs down by using people from across the civil service for the needs of the presidency, including sending 47 permanent staff to Brussels to monitor and chair the working groups of the EU Council.
Those from the private sector will be hired on a temporary basis, with the majority based in Nicosia though some 40 will be in Brussels.
From the 200 hired help, around 52 will be experts recruited to serve the needs of the ministries and independent institutions.
Expertise knowledge is considered key to a successful presidency as in many cases the member state, particularly a small one like Cyprus, will not have the necessary know-how to chair and lead all the working groups that will be held on a wide range of subjects throughout the six months. Hiring starts this June.
According to Politis, the finance ministry has set a price cap for experts, proposing €40,000 for 12-months for a Cyprus-based expert, no more than €60,000 for those working abroad and in exceptional circumstances €72,000 for a 12-month contract.
The EU expert told the Cyprus Mail that the latter figure was closer to the average bill charged by experts for hire.
In any case, the current budget is not fixed. “Things are not so clear yet. The budget at this moment is pretty obsolete, because things can change,” he said.
According to last month’s EU Observer, Poland which will take over the presidency this July has hired a US-based PR firm to help it run the six-month show at a cost of €1m. Poland’s total presidency budget stands at around €110m.
The expert warned against complacency regarding Cyprus’ presidency, given the potential pitfalls that lay ahead, as well as the multitude of naysayers waiting for a mistake to happen.
“The Cyprus presidency is not like the Hungarian or Czech presidency that can afford to be bad or indifferent. There is a huge lobby in Brussels waiting to prove Cyprus was wrongly allowed into the EU,” he said.
The expert referred to the strong Turkish lobby in Brussels, made up of well-connected journalists, think tank members, and even EU officials waiting for Cyprus to trip up.
“It’s not going to be an easy ride,” he added.
One way Cyprus could guarantee it comes out of 2012 smelling of roses is by clinching a deal on a replacement for the EU’s current financial perspectives, euro-speak for the EU’s seven-year financing period. Member states have to decide by 2013 how they will allocate the next EU long-term budget.
Poland will begin the negotiations, but they will unlikely be ripe for a conclusion until Cyprus’ presidency in the second half of 2012 or after.
With all the “big” countries having a stake in how the millions get spent and on what, Cyprus is in a good position to oversee negotiations on budget allocation.
“Because it is a net contributor to the budget, and it’s a small country with no big vested interests in the budget, it can negotiate as an honest broker. Poland is a different case,” said the source.
“The financial perspectives are so important, if Cyprus manages to close the deal, the presidency will be considered very successful whatever else happens,” he added.
SIDEBAR
According to the article, the total presidency budget for 2011-2013 comes to €65,937,905. The budget is divided into: Personnel costs (€14,316,187); Travel costs (€2,031,500); Operational costs, training, maintenance, conferences, interpreters, translators (€6,981,000); Hospitality, hotels, overnight stay, food etc (€9,989,000); Payment of services (€6,270,218); Publications/communications (€1m); Cultural events (€1m); Managing conferences (€4.5m); Unforeseen expenses (€1.6m); and capital expenditure (€18,250,000).
