Another farcical meeting about multiple pensions was held at the House finance committee on Monday. This time deputies of all parties, including those supporting the government, turned against the government bill that aimed to scrap pensions for ministers, state officials and deputies, by replacing these with one-off payments, based on years of service, when the official left a post.

On the surface, the government plan seems to make sense as the one-off lump sum would replace the monthly pension that the state might have to pay for decades after an official steps down. This was the main argument used by Finance Minister Makis Keravnos to defend the government bill, saying that this was a surefire method for eliminating the multiple pensions regime of which he was also a beneficiary.

Needless to say, the bill is based on the assumption that politicians have the divine right to squeeze as much money out of the taxpayer as possible. By what economic reasoning should a deputy or a government minister receive a lump-sum pay-off when they step down? Were they not being paid a good salary and enjoying many fringe benefits when they were doing the job? A retirement bonus replacing a pension might be more economical in the longer term for the taxpayer, but it is still unjustified spending of the taxpayer’s money.

Of course, it would be extremely unrealistic to expect deputies, who have voted themselves an abundance of privileges at the taxpayer’s expense over the years, to tackle the multiple pensions. For this to happen, there must be a consistent approach which would affect the earnings of deputies as well. Keravnos’ proposal, for example, would deprive deputies of the generous pensions they receive when they turn 60 – they also receive a lump-sum when they leave the legislature. A change in the law would not affect the privileges granted to deputies and ministers currently serving, even though pension payment could be pushed back to age 65.

The problem – and the reason the multiple pensions will never be stopped – is that the members of the political class will never give up the privileges they have arranged for themselves over the years. These include President Christodoulides collecting a state pension since the age of 45, deputies collecting their full state pension at 60, in contrast to the rest of the population who need to turn 65; these pensions are much higher than their years of service could reasonably justify and they are also paid a retirement bonus they do not deserve.

Multiple pensions are only a tiny part of the much bigger issue, which is legal plundering of the taxpayer by the political class which claims that ending its undemocratic privileges would be unconstitutional. We are supposed to believe that unequal treatment of citizens by the law and the state is safeguarded by the constitution. This is why a minister, for five years’ service, will get a higher state pension than someone who has worked for 30 years; and if he had also been a public employee and a deputy he would be collecting another two pensions! It is also the reason why deputies start collecting a state pension at 60 and collect a lump sum on retirement!

It is a disgraceful state of affairs and it is naive to think it will ever be ended by those who benefit from it.