President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday backed, in principle, the new laws passed by parliament to regulate multiple pensions for state officials.

However, following advice from the legal service, he has asked for minor changes to ensure they meet constitutional standards and can be properly enforced.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Christodoulides signed into law the bill allowing officials to voluntarily give up one of their state pensions.

However, when it came to the other six bills, including the key law that raises the retirement age for certain officials to 65 years old, he chose to send them back to parliament.

According to the report, Christodoulides made this decision based on clear suggestions from the legal service, which raised concerns about some of the new measures.

It said that in his letter to House president explaining his decision, he stated that it was his “institutional duty” to send the bills back for review.