Filenews 15 June 2025 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
There is a tug-of-war between the Parliament and the General Accounting Office over who will finally collect the money owed from the parties to the state.
This is €2.6 million that the parties received when they were not entitled to them and refuse to return them.
According to the Audit Office, eight parliamentary parties received €2.6 million in state funding to cover their expenses during the 2018 presidential elections.
However, the parties did not spend the amount of the extraordinary sponsorship, so they will have to return an amount of €2.09 million. In addition, they will have to return €577,500 which are part of the regular funding of the parties in 2021. It is worth noting that, as regular funding, the parties received €6.6 million in February 2021, based on the percentages they received in the 2016 parliamentary elections. However, the amount of €577,500, received by four parties (AKEL, DIKO, Solidarity and Citizens' Alliance) will have to be returned by them as they are deemed not to be entitled to it, while the specific amount will have to be redistributed to the remaining five parties (DISY, EDEK, DPA, ELAM and Ecologists).
The Legal Service, with its opinions, considers that the parties illegally received the amount of €2.6 million. In fact, in its latest report for the year 2023, the Audit Service warned of the risk of losing €2.6 million, calling on the Republic to legally claim the money.
It is worth noting that the Legal Service believes that the amount should be collected from the Parliament, while the legislature considers that this is the responsibility of the General Accounting Office. The issue was discussed again on Thursday at the meeting of party leaders or representatives, without a decision being made on what will happen.
New recommendations from the Accounting Department
The Accountant General Andreas Antoniadis, in a new letter to the Director General of the Parliament, Tasoula Ieronymidou, calls on her to proceed with the recovery of the amounts from the parties through set-off.
According to the Accountant General, Andreas Antoniadis, the Parliament replied to the Audit Service that it will follow its instructions and take the appropriate actions to inform the parties and recover the unspent sponsorships, through set-off with sponsorships from other years or otherwise.
Mr. Antoniadis cites the opinions of the Legal Service of 2022 and 2023, which argued that the issue that has arisen concerns the implementation of the budget of the Parliament as an economic entity, which is reinforced by the fact that the budget constitutes a distinct part of the state budget, according to Article 167 of the Constitution.
"The issue that has arisen concerns the management of the issue by the controlling officer, due to incorrect management during the implementation of the relevant budget and not incorrect accounting practice," he adds.
At the same time, it lists the responsibilities of the audit officer, which stem from the Law on Accounting and Financial Management and Financial Control of the Republic.
As stated by the Accountant General, the Audit Officer is responsible for the implementation of the relevant budget on the basis of the principles of the principle of sound financial management. At the same time, it must act on the basis of the budget and develop and implement appropriate structures to implement control procedures to ensure correctness in the payment of expenditure.
"As the Legal Service has pointed out, the Republic of Cyprus does not have the legal basis to bring lawsuits against the parties, as the Republic has not suffered any financial loss and has not been burdened with additional expenses, while the issue is being resolved by redistributing the sponsorship between them," adds Mr. Antoniades. In fact, he noted that "the issue does not concern the relations between Democracy and parties, but between Democracy and an economic entity, i.e. the House of Representatives, which is why I call on you, exercising my powers stemming from Article 4(1) of the same law to promote the sound financial management of economic operators, to take the appropriate actions, including the mutual information of the political parties, for the recovery of the excess sponsorships through set-off with sponsorships of subsequent years or, possibly, otherwise, their redistribution".
How many received more
It is recalled that the amount of the extraordinary sponsorship received by the eight parties, amounting to €2.09 million, which concerns unspent sponsorship for the purposes of the 2018 presidential elections, should be recovered as follows:
- DISY €813.222
- DIKO €383.955
- AKEL €206.402
- EDEK 163,757
- Citizens' Alliance €159.253
- Solidarity €138,849
- Ecologists €127.4 55
- ELAM €98,307
In addition, the amount of €577,500 they received as state sponsorship for the year 2021 was given as follows:
- Citizens' Alliance €277,429
- Solidarity €251,203
- DIKO €47.321
- AKEL – €1,558.
It is worth mentioning that when this amount is recovered, it will have to be redistributed to DISY, EDEK, DPA, ELAM and Ecologists.
What does the law provide for financing
According to the legal framework, political parties that are registered in the Register are entitled to state funding and are financed by the state to cover part of their electoral and operating expenses.
Also, the state funding of political parties is not subject to any tax or fee imposed and collected under the provisions of any law.
Parliamentary parties receive regular funding, the amount of which is determined by the Council of Ministers and included in the state budget.
The distribution of funding is as follows: 15% of the sponsorship is paid equally and the remaining part (85% of the amount) is paid in proportion to the percentages received in the last elections held pursuant to the provisions of the Laws on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives.
Parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties are entitled to sponsorship, provided that in the case of parliamentary elections they cover with candidates at least half of the number of members of the Parliament and two-thirds of the constituencies.
The sponsorship shall be paid no later than three months before the date of the parliamentary elections to which the sponsorship relates and shall be distributed in proportion to the percentages received in the last parliamentary elections.
