The plenary session of the Parliament unanimously approved the first supplementary budget submitted by the Ministry of Finance for 2022, with MPs, however, expressing concerns about the management of funds for the pandemic and insufficient support for specific social groups.
The additional appropriations of €102,075.815 mainly concern expenditure for the management of the pandemic, as well as exceptional needs arising from the war in Ukraine.
The additional appropriations required concern, inter alia, the purchase and distribution of coronavirus tests and staffing of public health clinics, the purchase of services from mobile units to carry out tests, rehabilitation and accommodation of positive cases and carrying out next-generation sequencing on samples of already confirmed cases, purchase of medicines and vaccines for the pandemic, payment of overtime for the secondment of doctors and nurses and referral of patients to the private sector, and conducting research to the tune of €53.000.000.
Also staffing of COVID-19 checkpoints at airports to check health documents, separation of passengers during disembarkation, and guidance to COVID-19 testing laboratories amounting to €700.000.
In addition, a grant to school authorities for costs related to the decontamination of school premises due to COVID-19 outbreaks, use of public school classrooms for rapid antigen detection tests, operating costs and electricity consumption amounting to €520,000.
Also purchase of services for the public tele-service centre for the provision of pandemic-related information, support for the vaccination platform and the provision of information on the Cyprus Flight Pass amounting to €571,200.
At the same time, the supplementary budget provides for the payment of compensation to cheese producers, due to the imposition of restrictive measures during the pandemic in the food sector, which adversely affected the consumption of cheese products, amounting to €890,000.
In addition, the purchase and management of cereals for a period of one year for stock keeping purposes, due to the effects of the war in Ukraine, amounting to €18,000,000.
Support for sheep and goat, cow and pig farmers, as well as expenditure for the storage of pork of €7.600.000.
Also support and accommodation of displaced refugees from Ukraine of €5.000.000.
Support to airlines for the continued implementation of the Air Transport Connectivity and Development Incentives Plan for July-December 2021 of €5.784,615.
The estimated impact on the fiscal balance from the adoption of the supplementary budget is expected to amount to 0.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
An amendment by DIKO MP Chrysis Pantelidis, unanimously voted by the Parliament, commits an amount of €10.000.000.000 to inform the Finance Committee about extraordinary expenses expected to be incurred in the second quarter of 2022 due to the evolution of the pandemic, including the hosting of COVID-19 positive patients, as well as the implementation of the subsidized holiday program.
In his intervention in the plenary, Mr. Pantelidis said that on the issue of coronavirus, it is common knowledge that we are perhaps the only country in the European Union that has continued for such a long period of time the practice of mass medical screening and other measures, whether at airports, ports or elsewhere.
He also said that from now on, and as long as the epidemiological situation of the country is what it is, i.e. it is deemed satisfactory, the state should emphasize spending on drugs and vaccines and become particularly sparing in spending on countless checks that are not in line with the epidemiological situation, nor with the general impact of the pandemic on the population.
He also expressed disappointment that the supplementary budget did not include any funds to support affected businesses as it was said that business grant schemes to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic had been terminated.
He noted that there are currently about 500 pending cases of businesses to which financial support has not been paid, due to errors or omissions in the process of completing the relevant applications.
There is a particular problem, he added, with entertainment centres, as it seems that the Ministry of Finance is persistently refusing to meet obligations of about 1.5 million euros to these businesses. He again called on the Government and the Ministry of Finance to meet this obligation.
At the same time, referring to difficult days ahead, he said that collectivity is required, unity is required, efficiency is required and that not every proposal of the Government on an issue can be characterized by the Government as "the only serious, the only documented or the only responsible" and at the same time every proposal of the opposition is characterized, again by the Government, as "populist, impractical or frivolous".
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou recalled that his party did not give a blank cheque for the country to be governed by decrees "that we are now being asked to pay for without examining their necessity". He also said that ELAM asked for a legislative regulation of the issue and received a negative response and registered the issue for discussion in Chapter D which has not yet been done. "Unfortunately, we have been confirmed at a cost of tens of millions to taxpayers," he said."
DPA MP Alekos Tryfonidis welcomed the support for the farmers, expressing reservations about whether the funds are enough, saying they expect the submission of the second supplementary budget within the month, as reported by the government. He said that this amount is enough for the farmers for one week. He also expressed concern over the huge wastages on rapid tests and urged all relevant agencies and the Auditor General to carry out all necessary audits to see if there is any waste of money and mismanagement. He also called on the Government to give the owners of entertainment and event centres the remaining amount due to them to support them from the hit they received in the pandemic.
ELAM MP Linos Papagiannis said that the fund for livestock farmers is not enough in any case and that the Government has promised other things and is implementing others. He added that the producers of Cyprus should be encouraged in every way to lead the country to greater self-sufficiency. He also said that businesses that are still waiting for their allowances for the pandemic that have not been paid to them should be supported.
EPP MP Elias Mirianthous referred to insufficient funds to support many groups of the population that have been affected and expressed the view that there should be targeted management because if the situation with the war and inflation continues, the government's reserves may not be able to cope with other social unrest.
DIKO MP Christos Orphanides referred to the increased costs of livestock farmers due to the large increases in animal feed and said that this particular budget could have been much larger to support these workers.
EDEK MP Kostis Efstathiou said that the minimum per livestock unit that could be given without the need for EU approval was €50,000, when the amount given now is less than €10,000 per unit.
AKEL MP Andreas Kavkalias said that there are very limited funds for the real economy and the needs of social groups that have been hit hard by the crisis. The 5 million for livestock farmers is welcome, he added, but it is not sufficient to cover the increased needs of the sectors. He also spoke of the government breaking its commitments to support businesses in the entertainment and events sectors, as well as people in the cultural sector. He also said that the 18 million for the purchase of grain was needed because the government disbanded the Grain Commission and private importers felt it was not in their interest to import. He further said that it is a challenge that out of this 18 million 1 million will be allocated to these companies to manage the grain that will be imported.
DISY MP Onoufrios Koulla said that the party agrees with the amendment tabled since there must be parliamentary scrutiny of the funds.
At the same time, he said that the government has built fiscal capacity and allows us to claim more. He noted that more funds are coming for agro-pastoralism. On the pandemic, he said that most of the funds are for the management that has already been done and will be much less from now on. He added that Cyprus had a strict but one of the best pandemic management in the world at a time when its economy had less recession in 2020 and more growth in 2021.
At the same time he said that maximum responsibility and cooperation was needed for the days ahead.
Regarding the Grain Commission he said that if it still existed grain prices would be increased due to its high operational costs. He also stressed the importance of having a safety reserve in the national treasury for whatever the country needs next. He added that there are businesses that should then be supported more by the state.
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