The parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises, Banks, Public Benefit Organizations and Social Security Agencies (DEKO Committee) expressed a positive opinion, by majority, for the appointment of Mr. Panagiotis Doufexis, Alexandrou Varveris and Georgios Gratzios, in the positions of the commander and two deputy commanders of the Electronic National Social Security Agency (e-EFKA), respectively. ND MPs were in favor of appointing the three. “Against” declared SYRIZA and MERA25. “Present” declared PASOK, KKE and Hellenic Solution.
During the discussion, data was presented on the progress of pending pensions and the progress that has been made. Also, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis informed the committee that the August cabinet will discuss the legislative initiative, with which “the EFKA, where it is not currently aligned, in relation to the installments of the tax office, will be aligned”. In the context of the same legislative initiative, “the decision of the Council of Ministers will be respected, for a ten-year statute of limitations, instead of a twenty-year one” and indeed “after some years, this decade will become five years”.
The administrator of e-EFKA, Panagiotis Doufexis, who has been in charge of the administration of e-EFKA for more than a year, presented to the committee data on the “significant progress that has been made” during this period of time. As, among other things, he said:
– there was a merger of the local branches of the IKA with the structures of the OAEE and the OGA, which led to the local offices of the e EFKA and to the increase in the rate of awarding of pensions.
– the “control tower” was created, for the electronic monitoring of the issuance of pensions, throughout Greece, and of pending cases.
– a central structure for the rapid awarding of pensions was created, especially for the cases of successive insurance.
– a special project group was created, for the de-escalation of pending pensions.
– the body of pension providers was strengthened, with 458 accountants and lawyers, who issued pensions in less than 90 days, at no cost to the insured. They were previously trained and certified by e EFKA.
– fast track pensions, trust pensions that minimize the time it takes to grant pensions to beneficiaries, even in one month, for some cases, were put into operation.
– replaced obsolete software, with 3000 new computers and modern software.
– pending issues regarding the creation of software for awarding pensions were resolved.
– the process of submitting each pension request was digitized.
– new digital services were added so that traders can be served, safely, through their computer. About 2,000,000 citizens’ transactions are carried out on a monthly basis in eEFKA’s electronic services. Among them, the “digital room” of communication that provides the possibility of personalized information to the prospective retiree. To date, more than 1600 policyholders have used the digital room, and within 4 days, the operator has answered 30% of policyholders’ queries. The myEFKAlive service, which enables citizens, especially those living in island and remote areas, and the disabled to be served by video call, also proved to be important.
– the 1555 call center has 2.5 million “answered calls” most of which concerned e EFKA. In its one year of operation, a survey made public a while ago shows that 8 out of 10 citizens, served by 1555, state that they are completely or very satisfied with the quality of services. It has become the “know where you belong” digital service.
Mr. Doufexis informed the parliamentary committee that with the above actions the overdue pensions were reduced dramatically and informed that in 2021 80.6% of the applications for main pension submitted that year were issued. 2021 was a record year for new applications as new applications were over 212,000. 38,574 applications remain to be cleared. A new six-month record is also set in the issuance of new main pensions, for the period January-June 2022 as the new pension decisions, during the first half of the year, amounted to 138,946 (a 30% increase compared to 2021, 113% compared to 2020 and 123% compared to 2019). 15,000 more pensions were issued in the first half of 2022 than were issued in the whole of 2019.
Mr. Doufexis said that 94% of the main pensions for the years 2016 to 2022 have been cleared. At the end of August, about 40,000 overdue pensions will be pending. After the end of the summer, the issuance of pensions will be fully normalized. The administrator of e EFKA said that there has been a reduction of 89% in overdue debts to pending pensioners, which currently amount to 78 million euros.
“Today we can talk about the end of the pathogenicity of pending pensions which was a disgrace to the country’s social insurance system”, said Mr. Doufexis.
K. Hatzidakis: The numbers speak for themselves
During the hearing, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, referred to the data on the reduction of pending pensions, to comment that now “the numbers speak for themselves”, for the work that has been done. As he said, dealing with supplementary pensions is a matter of months. “The main pensions are a condition to issue the auxiliary ones. Therefore, now that the main ones have been issued and there is a substantial de-escalation, it is easier in a short time to issue the auxiliary ones,” said the minister. Mr. Hatzidakis reported that in the summer of 2019, the overdue debts to pending pensioners were 487 million euros and today they are 78 million euros. As estimated by the EFKA services, of the 61,000 pension applications that were pending at the end of June, approximately 20,000, for various technical, procedural and legal reasons, cannot be issued, for example there are some who owe more than the limit and therefore the net stock at this time is estimated at around 40,000 pending pensions and an effort is being made to address these as well.
Referring to the issue of EFKA’s understaffing, an issue raised by opposition MPs, Kostis Hatzidakis did not deny that there is an issue. He noted, however, that EFKA, having 900 fewer employees compared to 2019, drew 83% more pensions. “I hear from the trade unionists that we are targeting civil servants, in this case the employees of EFKA. Whatever opinions I had when I was 18, I still have them today. I will not water down these opinions and I am not going to worship any social group for votes. If I see that some employees are doing their job well, I will say so”, he said and emphasized that “the majority of EFKA employees are helping and that is why such progress has been made”. At the same time, however, as he emphasized, he will not close his ears to the complaints of citizens who substantiate complaints. “There is a theory that especially in EFKA everyone is good. Well, they are not. Between stroking the ears of some trade unionists and taking the side of the many defenseless insured, I obviously take the side of the insured,” he said, adding, however: “Obviously many and important steps have been taken with enormous pressure and enormous effort, obviously also by the employees of EFKA”.
The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs informed the committee that within August the legislative initiative on debt arrangements will be discussed in the cabinet. “At the beginning of July, the prime minister said, and I repeat it, that the EFKA, where it is not currently aligned, in relation to the installments of the tax office, will be aligned. Relevant legislation was prepared. It will be discussed in the August cabinet and then it will come to voting in the Parliament”. Mr. Hatzidakis also said that in the context of the same legislative initiative, a provision has been prepared that will respect the decision of the Supreme Court, for a ten-year statute of limitations, instead of a 20-year one, and “at the same time, after some years, this decade will become five years “.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: Capital

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