Our View: No need for Anastasiades to get involved in routine ministerial matters  

President Anastasiades has a habit of acting as a mediator or facilitator, getting involved in matters that are best left to his ministers and in some cases better left to the interested parties to resolve without any government interference. The idea that the president has some political obligation to act as a mediator is not new, having been with us for decades, and stems from the unjustified belief that the president possesses great wisdom and is therefore ideally-suited to tackle problems.

This practice has led to Anastasiades holding meetings about the number of lanes a main Nicosia road should have, how many free periods public school teachers should be given, what the starting salary of hospital nurses should be and what percentage of cow’s milk there should be in halloumi, among other things. These are just very few examples of presidential involvement in matters that ministries or state services should be tackling as a matter of routine. Are the state services so inept that the president should do their job for them?

Not at all, because at these meetings, to which everyone with a small interest is invited, representatives of the state services are present. Such meetings are primarily publicity exercises for the president to show not only that he cares about what is happening but also that he can solve problems. Sometimes he does, but other time he solves the problem by giving in, as he had done with the hospital nurses, whom he granted a higher entry salary. In the case of Tseri Avenue, to satisfy shopkeepers he ordered the redesign of the road, at big, unnecessary expense and regardless of the adverse effects on traffic flow.

On Thursday he met a delegation of the Peo trades union federation to discuss a long list of its demands, such as the re-introduction of CoLA, collective agreements in all sectors, the minimum wage, employment of third country nationals, the reduction of VAT on necessities, higher social benefits, pension reform and more. All the labour related matters are being discussed between unions and employers’ organisations in the presence of the labour minister so what could the president have added to this debate? As for VAT reductions, pensions and social benefits these affect budget planning and are the exclusive responsibility of the finance minister.

Fortunately, the president made no promises. Peo is after all an Akel subsidiary. The meeting turned out to be a publicity exercise for the new leader of the union, who wanted show her commitment to fighting for workers’ rights. It also worked for Anastasiades, showing us that he is prepared to listen to everyone. As long as he is just listening in these meeting and not making promises, there is no harm done.