Opening hours’ decree extended for two more months

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou announced on Tuesday that the government would renew the decree for extending shop opening hours.

The new decree will last for two months. The minister also said that the government was currently working on a bill to permanently extend opening hours. The bill will be soon presented to the parliament, according to the minister.

She said that that 1,800 unemployed people had found jobs due to the extended houts.

The small shopkeepers union POVEK has strongly opposed the new hours, saying they would only benefit the bigger shops.  The union has taken legal steps to challenge the decree but has thus far been unsuccessful.

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.