The parliament has voted to abolish the Independent Social Support Body and transfer its assets and responsibilities to the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation, backing a proposal tabled by AKEL after rejecting two government bills on the same issue.
The body was created to provide financial help, mainly for higher education, to young people from families facing financial or social hardship, using private donations rather than state budget funding. It came under pressure this year after the so-called “videogate” corruption scandal and the resignation of First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides as chair, prompting a wider dispute over whether it should be abolished or reformed.
Lawmakers had before them two government bills and two separate legislative proposals, one from DISY and one from AKEL. The government bills were voted down by 36 votes to 10, with two abstentions. AKEL’s proposal was then approved and became law with 26 votes in favour and 21 against.
The law, submitted by Stefanos Stefanou on behalf of AKEL, together with Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis and Alexandra Attalides, provides for the assets of the Social Support Body to pass to the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation, which will use them to support young people through education.
According to the proposal’s sponsors, recent developments around the body’s operation showed that dissolving it and moving its responsibilities to an existing service was the best way to avoid overlap and improve transparency, accountability and the use of public resources.
The first government bill, which failed, would have dissolved the body, settled its outstanding obligations, mainly linked to scholarships, and transferred any remaining assets to the Republic’s consolidated fund. The second would have amended the law on state student welfare to allow the Accountant General to maintain a special account at the Central Bank of Cyprus for student support.
A separate DISY proposal was discussed but not put to a vote. It would have kept the body in place while introducing transparency rules, including donation limits, disclosure requirements for larger contributions and a donor register.
During the debate, Irene Charalambides said the government was abolishing the body while at the same time creating a new mechanism to continue accepting private donations, without what she described as meaningful safeguards over who was giving money or possible conflicts of interest.
Alexandra Attalides said the debate was taking place in the shadow of the “videogate” scandal, which she said had deepened public mistrust in institutions.
On the other side, ELAM lawmaker Sotiris Ioannou said parliament itself had created the body and argued that support for students was now being turned into a major political issue. DIKO’s Chrysanthos Savvides said the fund had originally been created to help poor children who were struggling to study.
DISY lawmaker Giorgos Georgiou said his party’s proposal would have strengthened the institution and introduced clear transparency rules, while AKEL’s Aristos Damianou said his party still wanted details submitted to parliament and asked what was happening with any criminal investigations linked to the video.
Averof Neophytou said around 1,500 people had been helped by the body and argued that parliament should ensure support continued through the budget process.
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