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The pro-labour government is facing a dilemma, once again. It is having a hard time fending off criticism about its inability to help the low-income households and the working class, while at the same time it needs to find ways to cut back on excessive spending. But shifting funds around within the Budget is not the way to go about it.
In the first case, it wants to seem to be helping the working classes just ten months away from the next elections, where every candidate will slam the communist administration for abandoning the low-income workers. That is why the government has fervently campaigned to raise the minimum wage level, even though this will make Cyprus less competitive in the long run because of the compounded rate that goes far beyond the 1.7% increase initially announced.
In the case of excessive spending, it does not want to risk major cuts in the public payroll, as this would be politically suicidal, and is seeking ways to lower its expenses by reducing grants and aid.
However, what it has failed to do is to help in the relief of the thousands who are registered unemployed, with nearly a quarter added in the past year or so. Many visit the Labour Office for six months to get their unemployment benefit, but have no reason to return after that due to the lack of jobs, despite public statements about new job creation. Furthermore, many had been working for at least a decade with a respectable amount contributed in their name into the Redundancy Fund. What they seek now is the money owed to them from the Redundancy Fund… which simply is not there!
Many unemployed people are expressing their frustration over the fact that whereas it used to take about a year for the civil service to process, review and approve their applications (and earning interest in the meantime), it has now gone up to 18 months for an out of work person to get his money back, which in most cases will keep that household going for another, say 6-10 months.
By withholding this money from those who have been laid off, and who already have to suffer the humiliation of sitting at home doing nothing or taking on menial part time work, the government is adding to their despair with little hope of winning those votes over.
Unless, of course, if keeping people in poverty is intentional, simply to come up with a solution later and be regarded as the true saviour of the working classes.
