The privileges granted to a president of the republic and a president of the legislature after they leave office, were discussed once again by the House institutions committee on Wednesday. Deputies discussed three bills that try to regulate the privileges such as the granting of a state limo, chauffeur and a €3,000 monthly allowance for secretarial services, for life.

Volt deputy Alexandra Attalides, who drafted one of the bills, said that this was not a budgetary issue but primarily an institutional issue. “The republic must not be identified with the unconditional granting of privileges. The meaning of a public position ends with the term and not with death.” Wiser words were never spoken about the way the state treats public officials, who are rewarded until death for holding a public post.

What is even more scandalous is that a House president, a ceremonial position given to a deputy whose main responsibility is to chair plenum sessions and manage legislature business should never enjoy the same privileges as a president of the republic, even if they become ‘acting president’ when the latter is out of the country. The House president is elected by the parties in the legislature and is not chosen for the post by the people, so why the equal treatment with the head of state? This creates the bizarre situation by which a former House president, if re-elected as an ordinary deputy, enjoys privileges unheard of for his fellow deputies.

It is commendable that one of the three bills was tabled by House president Annita Demetriou and envisages that a state limo would be provided for just five years after a president leaves his or her post and not for life as is currently the case. As regards the ‘secretarial services’, which was a pretext to pay a former president an additional, non-taxable, €3,000 per month, even if no secretarial services were ever used (this was lawful theft considering it was money collected on false pretenses), deputies on the committee decided not to include them in the bill that would be forwarded to the plenum.

These would remain a life-long privilege for former presidents, even though Demetriou’s bill wanted the payments documented while Attalides’ bill would have reduced the allowance by almost 50 per cent. Attalides said she would submit an amendment at the plenum seeking to limit the ‘secretarial services’ scam to five years, as a provision in her bill stipulated; it was removed for some inexplicable reason by deputies on the committee.

A third bill, submitted by leader of the Greens, Stavros Papadakis, would have scrapped all these privileges, but it was ignored by deputies, whose conservatism shone through once again. It is outrageous that they decided to keep the ‘secretarial services’ allowance in place for life, enabling a former president to collect €3,000 per month for as long as he draws a breath, even if he or she have no need for a secretary.