Filenews 6 April2025 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
For the last 12 years, recruitment and promotions in the state machine may have been prohibited by law - with exceptions - but the members of the parliamentary Finance Committee have consented to the unfreezing of 15,000 positions!
The freeze on recruitment and promotions had been implemented in the context of the Memorandum of Fiscal Consolidation, as the international creditors had demanded a reduction of employees in the public sector and the wider public sector by 5,000 people.
There were many exceptions to the law, for example in the areas of health, education and public safety. It is worth noting that, from 2012 until last Thursday, all the Government's requests for the unfreezing of first appointment and promotion positions passed through the competent committee of the Parliament.
From 2013 to 2016, the Ministry of Finance was responsible for submitting requests to the Finance Committee for the unfreezing of vacant promotion positions, while from 2017 onwards and after the change of the law through a proposed law, the competent ministry was bypassed and all requests for the unfreezing of promotion positions were submitted directly to the Parliament by the interested authorities.
In 2023, the legislation changed again, through the lifting of the ban on recruitment, resulting in only requests for new appointments being made before the Finance Committee.
Through the Finance Committee
According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the number of positions for which the Finance Committee gave the green light during the implementation of the law exceeds 15,067, of which 13,499 were first appointment positions and 1,568 were promotions.
It is worth noting that the total number of positions for which the Parliament had consented to be de-frozen may exceed 20 thousand, as the data on promotions refer to the period 2013-2016, during which the competent ministry was responsible. From 2017 onwards, all requests for promotions were submitted directly by the services involved to the Parliament, resulting in no data from the Ministry of Finance.
Based on the analysis of the data of the Ministry of Finance, in 2013 a total of 135 positions (13 promotions) were unfrozen, in 2014 the Parliament consented to the unfreezing of 1,378 positions (486 were promotions), in 2015 1,385 positions (444 promotions) were unfrozen, and in 2016 another 2,094 positions (625 promotions).
As of 2017, the data only concern the unfreezing of recruitment. That year, 924 first appointment positions had been unfrozen, in 2018 another 426 positions, in 2019 1,296 positions had been approved and in 2020 the first appointment positions unfrozen by the Parliament were 917.
In addition, the Finance Committee in 2021 had unfrozen 1,630 recruitments, in 2022 another 1,352 positions, in 2023 another 1,954 positions and last year 1,566 first appointment positions.
The new procedure
As of last Thursday, after the green light was given by the majority of the Plenary Session of the Parliament, all the positions of the first appointment are released.
This is the last memorandum measure that was in force.
With the lifting of the bans on recruitment, as technocrats of the Department of Public Administration and Personnel claim, recruitment will be faster, as with the procedure that has been applied in recent years, it took one and a half to two years to fill a position in the state machine.
Something that created problems in many departments and services, which are considered understaffed.
With the new procedure, in the first months of each year, the EDP will publish all vacancies, either for first appointment or promotion, while they will also be approved through the annual state budget, something that was done even before the law was implemented.
It is worth noting that the complete lifting of the bans on recruitment was the subject of an agreement between the trade unions and the Anastasiades Government, which was ratified by the current Government.
Before the 2023 presidential elections, when a relevant bill to lift bans on recruitment was being discussed, DISY had strongly disagreed, even though the legislation had been submitted by the government it supported.
He took the same stance with the new bill of the Christodoulides government, rejecting it, as he believes that hundreds of recruitments will follow in the state machine, inflating even more the state payroll, for which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already made recommendations.
Following instructions from the Ministry of Finance, the IMF has delivered the study it has conducted in relation to the extortion of the state payroll, for which it will make decisions within the year.
However, the government has repeatedly signalled that the new legislation will not overwhelm the public service with a large number of employees.
The positions that will be filled
The first appointment positions in the state machine that are not unfrozen amount to 977, since if the specific positions were not frozen, the EDS could pay a certain number of positions every year, while an additional number of positions are vacated per year.
The remaining vacancies in the public sector will be filled by the Educational Service Committee (teachers' positions), the police (police officers and special and special police officers) and the Fire Service for firefighters' positions.
In addition, there are another 388 vacancies for the first appointment in public law organizations and municipalities for which requests have been submitted by the competent authorities for their de-icing.
Based on aggregated data, the total number in the public sector from 2012 to 2024 decreased by 559 employees. In 2022, the number of employment amounted to 52,267 persons, while in 2024 the number of employees was 51,708.
In detail, the decrease in the employment of permanent staff in the Public Sector from 2012 to 2024 amounted to 2,796 persons (from 14,962 to 12,166 persons) while in the same period the temporary staff increased by 902 (from 4,567 persons to 5,469) due to the law on the conversion of fixed-term employees into permanent employees.
In the education sector, the number of employees increased by 29%. That is, it increased by 3,699 persons (12,789 serving as of 1.1.2012 compared to 16,488 on 31 December 2024).
Finally, in this year's 2025 budget, 38,803 positions have been approved, of which 15,597 are in the Public Service, 12,447 in the educational service, 3,180 in the army, 6,294 in the police, 936 in the fire service, 187 judge positions and 162 state officials.
