Its legislative norms operate within the constitutional and legal framework. Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to use specialized specialists to solve the problem of delaying the issuance of thousands basic or supplementary pensions.

Its plenum supported the constitutionality of the rules in question. State Councilwith the decision announced yesterday to the media following appeals filed by the workers’ federations.

In particular, the Plenum of the Supreme Court, in its decision 750 of 2023, ruled that the use by FECA of specialists such as lawyers and accountants to issue pensions does not contradict constitutional powers and does not violate the main provisions of current legislation. The substantiation of the multi-page decision of the Plenum of the State Council answers all the objections of those who applied, supporting the unconstitutionality of the procedure for using special specialists in the appointment of pensions.

To this end, among the many legal arguments included in the decision of the SC, it is noted that “with the above provisions of Law 4798/2021 and the contested ministerial decision, the social security provider does not change, given that the powers granted to certified professionals train in it electronic EFKA, which is a legal entity of public law. In addition, certified professionals (lawyers and accountants) who are registered in the register maintained and supervised by e-EFKA, after successfully completing the training seminar and, subsequently, successfully participating in exams in thematic modules that correspond to the draft decisions and the decisions they are called upon to develop, they have the necessary qualifications, relevant specialization and experience to carry out their above duties and bear increased responsibility even after their work is completed.

In another paragraph of the decision, it is stated that the main reason for the use of specialized specialists for the issuance of pensions was important and related to the decent lifestyle of pensioners.

The Panhellenic Federation of Trade Unions IKA-ETAM (POSE IKA-ETAM), the Panhellenic Federation of Personnel of Social Policy Organizations (POPOKP) and a citizen (individual) appealed to the Council of State, citing the unconstitutionality of these rules. and demands their abolition.

However, their arguments were not accepted and the appeals were dismissed. Dimitrios Skalzounis, Honorary President of the Supreme Court, chaired the plenary session of the Council of Europe that passed this decision, and Cristina Sitara was the rapporteur.

It should be noted that the use of private individuals in the then difficult task of issuing hundreds of thousands of unpaid pensions was announced in K by the Minister of Labor Kostis Hatzidakis in March 2021. Since then and since then, a number of measures taken, as well as the use of private individuals (accountants and lawyers) who have been trained and certified to do so, have allowed EFKA to significantly reduce the number of expected basic pensions. According to official figures from the ministry, 570,000 expected basic pensions were issued in 27 months. Now the disbursement rate is 1,100 pensions per day, compared to 500 in 2019. The average time to issue a new pension in Greece is now 60 days. All cases since 2021 have been completed, with the exception of 4000 cases, which are already being handled by a dedicated e-EFKA team.