Public service reform should be ‘greener’

By Evie Andreou

THE Greens party wants Undersecretary to the President Constantinos Petrides to introduce greener policies in the plan to reform the public service.

Greens party chairman George Perdikis said after the meeting that they trust Petrides and that they support the reformation of the public service so that it will be more effective and offer more towards the prosperity of Cypriot society.

“We also conveyed our initial suggestions and we will give special emphasis on the matter of submitting greener economic proposals for the public service and we will participate in this effort,” Perdikis said.

He added that the most positive element brought by the difficult times of the crisis and the memorandum with the international lenders is the need and obligation to proceed with the reform of the public service.

“The matter of green management was put on the table and how the public service can become greener, something I admit we did not consider,” Petrides said.

He added that he found the idea very positive and that it is something that will now be considered.

The cabinet has already entered the digital era by scrapping handwritten procedures and utilising an online application that will achieve considerable savings, a move that it has estimated to save around two million sheets of paper a year and also cut the cost of printing by 95 per cent as only classified documents will be produced in hard copy.

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.