All dear citizens can finally sleep soundly. The pension issue has been solved and pensions have been saved. Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas has assured us that all pensioners will receive increases. Within five years, everyone will receive increases ranging from 5% to 55%.
In short, do not be in a hurry. In Cyprus we have learned, and everyone knows, that all good things take time. Except, of course, for salary increases in the public sector, especially when the President is a former public servant. In those cases there is usually a remarkable degree of administrative speed.
Let us take a simple example. A retired public servant receives €3,500 a month and secures a 3% increase. How much is that? €105 a month, or €1,260 a year.
The minister says that those with high salaries and therefore high pensions will receive very small increases. Whether we choose to believe this is another matter, because the real superpower on the island of Cyprus is not occupying Turkey but PASYDY.
PEO and SEK are the children of poverty. A low-paid private sector employee with 42 years of service, who today receives €499, will receive €577 in five years' time. One can imagine the man will hardly know what to do with so much money.
The public servant receiving a €3,500 pension, having fortunately retired at salary scales A14-A16, will surely not be satisfied with an increase of just €105 and will likely wonder how he is expected to make ends meet. Let us be fair, coffee has become more expensive.
And because the state understands how difficult life is for the public service class, it regularly stands by its side. Salary increases, cost-of-living allowances, increments, pay scales, maturities and various other terms that, in the private sector, sound rather like the word "unicorn": everyone knows what it means, but nobody has actually seen one.
It is said that in recent years the additional costs associated with increases in the public sector payroll have repeatedly amounted to tens of millions of euros and now reach approximately €100 million annually.
And rightly so.
Because where else can you find such service?
Our obligation
You call a public service and before the first ring is even complete, someone has answered. By the second ring they have solved your problem. By the third ring they are calling you back to ask whether you need anything else.
Occasionally the service is so immediate that the phone does not ring at all. It simply hangs up out of emotion.
If you happen to arrive at the Accident and Emergency Department of a public hospital, the system operates with Swiss precision. You arrive at 10am and before completing six hours of waiting, you already feel your turn is approaching.
After seven hours you have met the other patients. After eight, you have created a WhatsApp group. After nine, you are considering organising an excursion together.
And do not imagine this happens because there are not enough doctors or because the system has problems. The public service simply wants to give you time to reflect on how important health really is.
After all, it is not every day that you encounter a 75-year-old Cypriot personal doctor who, before GeSY, could barely make ends meet and now drives a Porsche. Nor is it every day that you encounter the doctor from Kalamaria employed by the State Health Services Organisation who works weekdays in Cyprus and spends weekends doing private practice in Athens.
The same applies to building permits.
You want to build a house? No problem.
You submit your application, submit the plans and wait.
One year. Two. Perhaps three.
By the time the permit is issued, your children have grown up, your needs have changed and the plot you purchased for a family home may now be more suitable for a retirement residence.
Still, there is logic behind it.
The state is protecting citizens from impulsive decisions.
"I want to build a house."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"We'll discuss it again in 2029."
That is administration!
Pension issues
Let us also examine the major pension reform.
The bill is presented to the social partners and the traditional Cypriot process of give-and-take begins.
The trade unions ask for more, employers ask for less and the state explains that a golden balance must be found.
In Cyprus, the golden balance is usually the point at which everyone claims to be dissatisfied but eventually votes in favour.
There are four major issues.
First, how much pensions will increase, especially the lower ones.
This includes the major promise that no one will fall below the poverty threshold.
An excellent goal.
But since when is poverty overcome with a monthly pension of €500?
As everyone knows, poverty has the irritating habit of increasing too, without waiting for social dialogue.
Second, the famous 12% penalty for those who retire at the age of 63.
The government is discussing reducing it to 7% or 8%.
In other words, the penalty will not disappear.
It will simply become slightly more polite.
You will still concede the goal, just via a Panenka penalty.
It will not take 12%.
It will take 7%.
And you will be expected to be grateful that the remaining 5% was saved.
Third, the approximately 4,300 men who became widowers before 2018 and are seeking access to widower's pensions.
The government says the cost would be around €35 million.
If the social partners can find the money, then it can be discussed.
This is a fascinating new method of making government policy:
You bring the request and you also bring the money.
If we continue this way, soon when you ask the state for a new road, you will have to bring the asphalt with you.
Fourth, the Provident Funds.
The trade unions want compulsory contributions.
The employers do not even want to hear about it.
Somewhere in the middle stands the government, trying to convince everyone that the issue can be resolved over time.
It is Cyprus's favourite unit of measurement:
"In due course."
You do not know when something will happen?
In due course.
There is no money?
In due course.
We do not agree?
In due course.
Will you retire before it is resolved?
That is probably the most likely outcome.
Still, the Labour Minister deserves credit for his determination.
Whether there is an agreement or not, he says the bill will go to Parliament in September so that the reform can take effect on 1 January 2027.
And so it should
Because the important thing is to increase pensions, especially the lower ones, and make the system fairer.
It is just that, once we finish pension reform, perhaps we should undertake a smaller reform as well.
Citizens should be able to call a public service and receive an answer.
They should be able to visit Accident and Emergency without needing a mobile phone charger, a sandwich and a sleeping bag.
They should apply for a building permit and receive it before the building is classified as a listed structure.
They should be able to travel from Nicosia to Troodos without being obliged to stop in Peristerona to buy broad beans and black-eyed peas from Anastasiou's fruit shop.
In conclusion, we want good pensions for everyone but, for heaven's sake, let us pay attention to the pensions of public servants.
Without them, the state might collapse.
