Lawmakers on Monday continued grappling with the complex issue of pensions paid to currently serving state officials who also draw a salary, with the attorney-general’s office pouring cold water on the idea that these officials could voluntarily waive their pension payments.

MPs from various parties have tabled a dozen bills seeking to regulate the controversial issue in one way or another.

About 30 currently serving officials – including the president and three ministers – earn a pension for past service in the central government or broader public sector.

A representative of the attorney-general’s office cautioned that many of the bills tabled contain unconstitutional provisions. The rep warned that MPs cannot tinker with the ‘established pensionable earnings’ of state officials that were enshrined in a law passed in 2012.

Due to the complexity of the matter, the House finance committee will convene again later in the week.

The aim is to find a formula that can apply to all affected state officials, whose circumstances vary, said committee chair Christiana Erotokritou (Diko).

“If we sit down and work together, along with the Audit Office and the attorney-general’s office, we can come around to something that is constitutionally healthy,” she told reporters.

Monday’s discussion in parliament focused on a joint legislative proposal, which has the backing of the Audit Office.

It envisages that payment of the pension of a civil servant or public-sector employee – who takes up a post as a state official or official of the European Union after January 1, 2024 – will be suspended.

In addition, for persons entitled to more than one pension, an offset would be applied so that the total payable pension amount is no more than two-thirds of the person’s highest pensionable earnings.

According to auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides, in this way no person is deprived of the right to a pension.

The government meanwhile is working on its own bills on the same issue, but has yet to table them to parliament – something which drew a rebuke from opposition MPs.

One of the government’s proposals is that an official could voluntarily forego their right to a state pension while serving in a public post.