Disy leader seeking to limit pensions of state officials

Disy leader Averof Neophytou is asking parliament to revisit two proposals he had submitted in 2016 regulating salaries received by retired individuals appointed to state positions and extending the ministers’ and MPs’ retirement ages to 65.

Daily Politis said Neophytou had written to the head of the House finance committee last week asking her to revisit the proposals that had been submitted in 2016.

The first seeks to correct distortions allowing pensioners appointed to state positions to receive a full salary and their pension at the same time and to extend the retirement age for ministers and MPs from 60 to 65, like the rest of the population.

Because the Supreme Court ruled that a person’s pension cannot be cut or withheld, the proposal says that salaries should be adjusted accordingly so that together with the pension they will total the remuneration provided for by the position.

According to recent figures submitted to parliament, 167 current and former state officials receive double and triple pensions worth €4.4 million a year.

A lot also receive generous state salaries accompanies by pensionable allowances.

Double or triple pensions stem from the fact that those officials may have served the state from two or more positions, making them eligible for a pension.

An effort to correct this in the past was rejected by the Supreme Court, which ruled that pensions were property and as such, they could not be violated.