Three issues regarding the work of civil servants were raised on Thursday during a meeting with civil service union Pasydy, and President Nikos Christodoulides.

The first issue concerned unfreezing some seats for more civil servants to be hired, while the second concerned raises to low-paid employees, that are on lower civil service pay grades.

The third issue discussed concerned the reform of the civil service.

Speaking after the meeting, the General-Secretary of Pasydy, Stratis Mathaiou, said that on the first issue of unfreezing seats in the civil service, the president and the finance and labour ministers agreed with to support a proposal by Disy and Diko in parliament, which states that positions with the grade A14 or higher will not need to be approved by the parliament.

Mathaiou said that the issue will be discussed in parliament next week, and that they will make a joint statement in support of the proposal.

He added that these positions are in the state budget, and do not require extra funds to be released to be created.

Commenting on the second issue, Mathaiou said the president was optimistic about the proposal Pasydy had put forward for lower grade civil servants, which foresees that an employee starting at level A2 (€1095/monthly) will be able to be bumped up to A5 after twelve years of service, while after four more years they will be able to reach A7 (€1600/monthly).

He said that Christodoulides reacted positively to this proposal, at it had been a promise he made during his presidential election campaign. Mathaiou said that they would meet on October 30 to discuss the proposal further.

On the third issue, Mathaiou said it concerns the reform of the civil service.

He said that they shared with the president some reservations of Pasydy regarding some tight, suffocating deadlines. He noted that the bill was approved at the end of 2022 and is expected to be implemented from 1/1/2024.

In essence, he said, there have been convergences on essential issues concerning the reform, but still the union remains wary that all issues will be covered in the tight time frame that remains.

“We will consciously try to help so that the reform is implemented within these time frames,” he said.