Lawmakers seeking clarifications about a 1971 deal between Church and state – which a new bill is set to formalise – have been left with even more questions, such as for how long will the state keep subsidising priests’ salaries.
Under the agreement between the two – both headed by Archbishop Makarios at the time – the government had undertook to subsidise the monthly salaries of priests in rural areas to the equivalent of half the A5 pay scale in the civil service, or €680 currently.
The remainder of the salaries were paid by the Church.
In return, the state was to be given ownership of 15,564 acres of land.
Of the tracts transferred to the state by the church, 73 per cent are in the Turkish-occupied north of the island and have been valued at slightly over €125 million. The remainder, according to the land registry department, was valued at over €81 million at 2010 prices.
Although the land was granted to the state at the time the original agreement was signed – in February 1971 – and used by the government since, it was never officially transferred.
Now, new legislation seeks to lock in the transfer.
The original deal saw the state subsidise the salaries of some 700 priests in rural areas. In the context of the 1971 agreement, ‘rural’ areas were defined as those outside the cities.
The landscape has changed since then. Areas like Strovolos, Aglandjia, Latsia and Mesa Geitonia – which were rural back then – have since become urban centres. However, for the purposes of the deal with the Church these areas are still considered rural, so that clergy serving there continue to be entitled to state subsidies.
Additionally, the legislation provides for a steady increase in the number of priests eligible for the state salary subsidy.
Currently, 722 priests are eligible. The number of eligible clerics will go up to 760 for the 2019-2020 period, to 800 for 2021-2023, and to 850 for 2024-2025.
Meanwhile under a similar bill that was tabled in 2015 but then withdrawn, the number of subsidised priests would have been capped at 700 at the end of the year 2025.
Moreover, MPs asking questions of state treasurer Rea Georgiou found out that from 2025 and beyond the current bill states that the number of priests eligible for the subsidies will increase by 0.5 per cent annually.
And according to daily Politis, the legislation does not specify until when the deal will be in force.
That the agreement has no expiry date is significant because already the state has paid in salaries an amount that is greater than the value of the designated Church land in the south.
Data available from 1983 to the end of 2018 shows that to date the state has spent €136m on priests’ salaries. This figure far exceeds the value of the Church land (€81m) to be transferred inside the areas controlled by the Republic.
MPs additionally asked for – and obtained – a table of the tracts of Church land earmarked for transfer. The request was made in order to ascertain where the lands in question are located – in industrial, agricultural or tourist zones.
The table shows that the majority of the lands are fields. In some cases they include vineyards.
