Dispute between the Ministry of Agriculture and DISY over landfill tax implementation

The Cypriot Ministry of Agriculture and the political party DISY are in conflict regarding the implementation of the landfill tax. The Ministry states that the landfill tax and the 'Pay-as-you-throw' system were integrated into the Recovery and Resilience Plan in 2021 by the previous government, of which DISY was a part. DISY has criticized the current government for its handling of these policies, claiming they are applied with errors and delays. The Ministry argues that the initial 2023 proposal lacked a sustainability study and would have raised gate fees to over 150 euros per ton. Through consultations with the European Commission and JASPERS experts, the Ministry revised the fee to 10 euros per ton, down from a planned 35 euros. This change aims to limit the financial burden to less than one euro per household per month. The Ministry has also deferred the implementation timeline and asserts that these plans have been presented to the Parliament twice. DISY maintains that the government is failing to manage policies inherited from the predecessor administration effectively.