Taxpayers to shell out €1m more for CyBC pensions

By Elias Hazou

TAXPAYERS will apparently shell out €1m for pension payouts to CyBC employees this year, after parliament on Thursday gave the nod to a supplementary budget for the financially troubled state broadcaster.

The amount – approved by unanimous vote at the plenum – was itemised as extra cash for purchasing television content for CyBC, but some MPs said that in reality it would end up being used for pension payments.

DIKO MP Nicholas Papadopoulos said CyBC pension payouts next year could reach as high as €4m.

By 2016, he added, there would simply be no cash available to cover this expense.

“These problems, which are structural in nature, cannot be kicked down the road forever,” Papadopoulos said.

DISY deputy Marios Mavrides said that whereas CyBC staff are entitled to their pensions, the taxpayer should know that they are paying in duplicate for waste and mismanagement at the state broadcaster.

The CyBC, which has 600 employees, has been asking the government to plug a huge gap of some €110m in its pension fund. This is over and above the millions the state pays for the upkeep of the corporation every year. CyBC is now asking that the pensions of their staff be paid directly by the state as in the case of civil servants.

Last month the government revealed that broadcaster CyBC may have to lay off some 100 employees to remain viable.

 

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.