Parliamentary committee discusses labor fines and elderly welfare policies

The Parliamentary Committee on Labor, Welfare and Social Insurance recently met to address key policy issues, including government legislation on illegal employment and the status of active aging strategies. AKEL MP and committee chair Giorgos Koukoumas announced that the committee successfully removed a provision from a government bill that would have retrospectively canceled millions of euros in fines for employers who violated regulations regarding undeclared work. The committee has requested that the Ministry of Labor provide an updated list of the legal entities that have failed to pay such penalties.

In a separate assessment, the committee reviewed the government's progress on active aging, concluding that implementation is falling significantly behind schedule. Koukoumas stated that with one in three elderly citizens at risk of poverty and one in five facing energy poverty, the state's efforts remain insufficient. Specific failures noted include the underperformance of the agency for the elderly, a nearly decade-long delay in modernizing legislation for nursing homes, and the cancellation of planned upgrades to home care services for 2026. Cyprus currently spends only 0.2% of its GDP on long-term care, and the committee remains concerned about the reliance on working pensioners due to inadequate retirement income.