Public service will modernise but hours increase not on the cards… yet

FINANCE MINISTER, Marcos Kyprianou, warned yesterday many areas within the civil service needed modernising within the framework of EU accession.
Responding to reports that President Tassos Papadopoulos had ordered the minister to increase civil service hours and add an extra afternoon to their timetable, Kyprianou said the ministry had not dealt with the issue of working hours yet and was concentrating on other areas for the moment.

A Finance Ministry official explained the minister was given responsibility to modernise and increase productivity in the civil service. He rejected claims the president gave out specific commands to the minister to add an extra afternoon to the working hours of civil servants to bring them in line with European working hours.

“All our actions are within the framework of modernising and increasing productivity of the civil service. Working hours are on the agenda but we have not looked into it yet. Whatever happens will be done in consultation with the unions,” said the official.

Measures currently under consideration to help the civil service meet its EU obligations include speeding up hiring procedures, changing the existing evaluation system, dealing with temporary workers and allowing the transfer of workers around various departments. Another considerable task to be undertaken is the full computerisation of the public service, added the official.

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