Newsroom
The talk about when shops should open is back, and this time, it's the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Welfare, and Social Security discussing it. The Committee's head, Andros Kafkalias, thinks the government needs to set some rules on when shops can be open.
Kafkalias is worried that Cyprus is becoming known as a touristy place where shops are open all the time, even on Sundays. He thinks this might not be good for workers who might have to work on weekends and miss time with their families.
But there's a disagreement. The Pancyprian Retail Trade Association didn't like how the committee talked about this. They say there's a legal rule from 2015 that says the Minister of Labour, not the Parliament, gets to decide when shops are open. They argue that the Parliament getting involved messes with how things are supposed to work.
Even with these concerns, the Retail Trade Association says that having longer hours and being open on Sundays has been good for shoppers, workers, and the economy over the last ten years. They're saying, "Shops will stay open on Sundays unless Labour Minister Yannis Panagiotou, who wasn't at the meeting, says they can't." So, there's still a lot to talk about when it comes to deciding when shops should be open.
