By Angelos Anastasiou
FINANCE minister Harris Georgiades has asked parliament to engage in revising proposed legislation from 2011 limiting duplicate pensions of state officials, after the bill’s first draft was found at odds with constitutional provisions, it emerged on Friday.
In a letter sent to House speaker Yiannakis Omirou, Georgiades recounted that the 2011 law has been challenged in court by a number of former state officials on grounds that it contravenes article 23 of the constitution.
Attorney-general Costas Clerides’ legal opinion on a revised version of the bill raises similar obstacles, and makes a series of recommendations for amendments, most incumbent on the outcome of Supreme Court appeals against the law.
Legal challenges against the law were filed by former minister and Central Bank governor Afxentis Afxentiou, former Health minister and MP Dina Akkelidou, former ministers Christodoulos Veniamin and Costas Papacostas, former Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou, and former minister, MP, and mayor, Petros Stylianou.
In tackling the legal challenges likely to come up in a revised draft of the bill, Georgiades asked Omirou to recruit deputies.
In a meeting of party leaders on Thursday, it was decided that the issue will be brought to the House Finance committee.
Among the recommendations tabled by the AG was a constitutional amendment – to article 23 – to include the “public interest” as a legitimate reason to limit pensions, as well as abolishing pensions for future state officials and replacing them with a lump-sum payment to be determined according to post or office.
“The pension rights of state officials could be limited by an extent that cannot be considered as infringing on the core of their rights substantially,” the Legal Service’s note read.
“The Attorney-general proposes alternative solutions to settle the issue, but these impact both the philosophy on which the legislation has been drafted, as well as some of its fundamental clauses,” Georgiades informed Omirou.
Currently, 126 incumbent state officials – who retired from civil service before assuming their post – receive an annual total €2m in pensions, in addition to their salaries. Once they have completed their service at the state post, they will be eligible for an additional lifetime pension.