Parliament should urgently approve all legislation required for the drastic reform of the public sector so that private investment can be boosted, head of Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE) Phidias Pilides said on Tuesday.
Pilides said KEVE attends and speaks out in favour of reform bills at sessions of parliamentary committees. “KEVE expects more from parliament and parties,” Pilides said.
“In my eyes, parliament has not risen to the occasion in a manner worthy of this country.”
The KEVE boss added that the public sector is not, nor should it be, rival to the private sector, arguing that it should support private initiative, making it easier to invest and thus aid economic growth.
“Procedures need to be simplified so that bureaucracy, a nightmare for investment, can be curtailed,” he said.
“Oftentimes, projects planned by entrepreneurs get held up in various public-sector licensing departments.”
More than this, he claimed, the government’s efforts to modernise legislation get bogged down by party politics or ideological differences at the House.
“For example, it looks like the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) bill, currently at parliament, will not go ahead because the body will disband ahead of legislative elections in May,” Pilides said.
“As a result, Cyprus will not receive some €230 million from the economic-adjustment programme.”
He was referring to a government-sponsored bill to create a private-law – but fully government-owned – telecoms company that would take over operations from state-owned CyTA, which is a step towards its privatisation.
Failure to pass the bill this month will mean that Cyprus will not be eligible to collect the last tranche of bailout money from international creditors.
Pilides further noted that qualitative issues, such as the introduction of a fair system of evaluation and training for civil servants, tend to not go anywhere due to trade unions’ firm refusal to even engage in discussion.
“Some time ago, a study on this issue was prepared by a private company, and when the finance minister tried to present it to [civil servants’ union] PASYDY, he was told that it was a ‘red line’, and the union threatened to go on strike the next day,” he said.
Pilides acknowledged that all parties are nominally in favour of modernising the public sector, but said this often amounts to little more than lip-service.
“In practice, when various legislative proposals arrive at the House, committee sessions are mayhem,” he said.
