House president Annita Demetriou and independent deputy Alexandra Attalides deserve praise for submitting two bills aimed at ending the benefits for life given to a president of the republic and a president of the House, when they leave their post. They submitted two bills which impose an expiry date on the financial benefits that would be terminated after five years of leaving office. A third bill was submitted by the Greens which would abolish all the benefits.

The House research department, at the request of Attalides, gathered information about benefits offered to state officials by other countries so there could be a comparison, but each country had its own practices, one of the most widespread being an allowance based on the salary for a pre-determined period, ranging from a few months to a few years after leaving the post. Some do offer the former head of state a stipend for as long as they draw breath.

Comparisons are not really needed so long as deputies take a common-sense approach, which is what Demetriou and Attalides did in drafting their bills. The bills stipulate that the president and House speaker are provided with a limo and secretarial services paid for by the state for five years after they leave office. As regards the police guard, it should be reviewed every few years to establish whether the former official is entitled to a security detail.

Currently, 20 officers are used for the security of the former presidents, with 13 of them being used for Nicos Anastasiades’ security. Several of them accompany him on his frequent trips to Athens, with the taxpayer presumably picking up the bill for their travel and stay. It is a scandalous arrangement and a blatant waste of the taxpayer’s money. Three other former House presidents have two police officers, which is two more than they need, as none of them face any threat. The officers are used as chauffeurs for the state limo and to run errands – nothing more.

In fact, former House presidents should have no benefits after they leave their post, other than what is offered to deputies, which is what they are. That they were voted by their colleagues as a speaker should not qualify them for any state benefit after they leave their post, other than what a deputy is entitled to, even if they have the ceremonial title of acting president, when the elected president is abroad. By what reasoning should the taxpayer provide a retired deputy with a state limo plus chauffeurs and €3,000 a month for secretarial services that they have no need for? This amount is nothing more than an additional untaxed payment to the former official, for life.

We know that the amount that would be saved by scrapping these absurd benefits would make no difference to state finances but ending them is a matter of principle. The milking of the state by officials, who were generously paid and looked after for as long as they were serving it, is unacceptable and must be stopped. Meanwhile, the attorney-general’s office opined that any change to the law cannot apply to the current beneficiaries of this state largesse, because the law cannot be retroactive. Why? Are the provision of state limo and a monthly allowance for a secretary like pension rights?

The legislature should scrap them, and let the former presidents take the state to court, to claim their right to a state limo and an untaxed allowance for the rest of their life.