Concerns were raised in the House legal committee on Wednesday over the looming end of the fixed term contracts signed by police officers who patrol the Republic’s side of the Green Line.
The officers, who number some 200, were hired on fixed-term contracts in 2022, and with their contracts set to expire in August next year, plans are now afoot for the next steps to be taken.
Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou deputised as the committee’s chairwoman on Wednesday with its usual chairman Nicos Tornaritis in Strasbourg attending the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
She analysed the bill put forward by the government regarding the officers, saying the government had in the bill unveiled plans to expand the contracted force to include other parts of the country outside the Green Line, including the Vasiliko power station.
However, she said the legal service had raised the matter of a potential “legal issue” with the plans, given the laws surrounding the possibility of the police hiring fixed term contracted officers for other purposes.
She added that the legal service will study the issue and then get back to the committee with clarifications in due course.
Diko MP said the justice ministry could consider the possibility of creating a “special category of police officers” outside of the current framework, so they can be hired based on the same or similar conditions to contracted soldiers in the National Guard.
“An effort should be made to evaluate and utilise the appropriate officers in a constitutional, legal way to secure their rights and hire the right people, in a way which will create neither inequalities nor problems inside the police’s structure,” he said.
Trade union Isotita’s police branch chairman Nikos Loizidis said there have been undue delays in finding solutions to the matter, and pointed out that the government’s budget for 2025 has already been announced.
He said it is “urgent” that a solution be found and for the officers to remain in the police force on a salary.
