By majority vote from N.D. the draft law of the Ministry of Labor “On the rationalization of insurance and pension legislation, the strengthening of vulnerable social strata and other provisions” was voted by the Office in the Committee on Social Issues. SYRIZA, PASOK-KINAL, Hellenic Solution and MeRA 25 reserved their seats in the plenary, while the KKE voted against.

Minister of Labor Kostis Hatzidakis, in an article-by-article discussion of the bill, accused the opposition of “catastrophism”, noting that “I will wait with great interest to see how you vote on the articles of the bill at the plenary session. Because if you vote for them, you will follow the criticism that you make today, and if you do not vote for them, then you will rebel against a number of social groups that benefit from the provisions of the bill.

Mr. Hatsidakis, at the same time, commenting on the relevant reports of the deputies on the events in the “Bay of Peace” and the interventions of the government, said that “the whole society is surprised at what was reported and saw the light of day. Together we will wait for the judgment of Justice, this is what the rule of law requires. Recently, the government has taken measures, although many of them have not met with the support of all parliamentary factions, such as establishing criminal records for workers in structures or strict conditions for the operation of structures,” and added that in the case of Kivotos, we have suspended the procedures for granting the EFKA building, which were started under the government of SYRIZA and we also continued. Government intervention was announced today to solve the problem, a new Board of Directors will be created, which will have high prestige, with people who will also be distinguished by their social contribution. Our main concept is, first of all, that the structure does not collapse and that there is no lack of trust in this structure and in all other structures. Since this will have tragic consequences for the children in these structures. Now there is a shocker and a logical one. What interests us is that the structures remain in place and that is why we are immediately responsive and open to comments and suggestions so that such a sensitive issue can be taken seriously.”

With regard to the provisions of the bill, the Minister stated that it is necessary to rationalize our insurance system, because, “as I have said on other occasions, it is a ‘rag’ over time due to the many interventions that have been taken and it is extremely difficult to fix them, because they will create huge social upheavals.” He characteristically noted that there are 1040 different types of insurance in the private sector alone, which indicates the real scale of the problem. In the context of this necessary rationalization, the minister said, we are moving, in accordance with the decision of the State Council, to a 10-year limitation period, out of 20 years that were for debts of which the debtor was not informed. In the same logic, we proceed from agreements on 24 payments out of 12 that were for insurance funds, as well as for debts to preschool institutions, as a step of common sense. I have heard, Mr. Hatsidakis said, that some opposition speakers and buyers are offering 120 installments, but we are trying to move logically and manage the situation seriously. We also recognize five years of combat service for all uniformed officers so that there are no double standards.”

The minister said that I expect opposition parties to reach consensus on a ceiling that includes some high supplementary pensions because, as he explained, “because of the failure of their system, if we don’t intervene, we may have additional pensions.” for various professions that receive social resources, in the amount of 15,000 euros, 20,000 euros or 24,000 euros per month, and this will be a problem for other pensioners.”

Regarding the provisions regarding the Civil Service Equity Fund that drew the most backlash from opposition parties, Mr. Hatzidakis said: “I see that you have a holy wrath, but for what? because we are enabling two companies that use EFKA’s movable and immovable assets to also participate in the MTDY issue. When one company is EDEKT, which manages EFKA securities and was created by the Repp Law and which has reportedly performed positively all these years. On the contrary, again according to the data, only 37.5% of his property remained in the Government Equity Fund of his movable property over the previous decades. 63.5% of his personal property was lost. And you (members of the opposition) support this system.”

The Minister of Labor, referring to the provisions of the bill on income support for pensioners and the poor, noted, among other things, that “2.3 million of our fellow citizens will become beneficiaries. It also regulates how pensioners will be paid horizontal allowances, which will amount to 7.75% and will cover almost 2 million pensioners out of the country’s 2,700,000 pensioners. At the same time, we have the abolition of the solidarity fee for pensioners and the fourth part of the recalculation of the Vrucis Law.”

Mr. Hatzidakis said that tomorrow the numbers will be made public and at least 50% of pensioners will see that they benefit from a combination of at least two positive measures from the above. He pointed out that, based on the data, between 88 and 90% of pensioners who have personal differences will see an increase in their income in one way or another.

^{Source: RES-IPE}