With 158 votes in favor and 138 against, the bill of the Ministry of Labor “Jobs Again” was voted by the plenary. The amendment to speed up the award of pensions received 190 in favor, 83 present and 23 votes against.
“I will tell you what will apply from Monday, when this bill will be voted by the Parliament”, said the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis, closing the marathon discussion of the bill, and a few minutes before the presidency announces that the roll call votes requested by ND, SYRIZA and KKE.
“ND also asked, as the other parties did, roll-call votes, to see how you will vote and if all the attacks you launched will be reflected in the result. We will see who is with the many and who is with the dogmas and with the unions! “, said Kostis Hatzidakis who many times, during the debate in the Parliament, received personal attacks, attacks even at an” insulting level “, attacks of” personal empathy “, as Mr. Hatzidakis himself on assessed, addressing the seats of the opposition. “We leave the abusers to their insults and continue with work,” said the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.
In essence, Kostis Hatzidakis in his closing speech, stood on the articles that New Democracy puts, with its proposal in a roll call vote, in order to have a clear picture of the… side with which they choose to side with the opposition parties.
As of Monday, Mr. Hatzidakis said, “for the first time, the work allowance, which will be equal to 50% of the unemployment benefit, will be introduced for the subsidized unemployed who find a job. In five months you will find a job. for another seven months you will receive with your salary, 50% of the unemployment benefit “.
From Monday, a bonus of 300 euros will be paid for the preparation of a digital individual action card, by the long-term unemployed, over 5 years. So that the long-term unemployed can be reconnected with the Public Employment Service, the minister said.
From Monday, income criteria will be introduced, as they apply, for the rest of Europe, for the stay, after 12 months in the digital register of unemployed and the maintenance of the benefits, the benefits. It will be the same criteria that already apply to the Heating Allowance, said the Minister of Labor.
From Monday onwards, after three denials of suitable positions, the deletion from the register of unemployed will be activated, for two years, according to the established European practice, said Kostis Hatzidakis.
From Monday, the reform of training begins to meet the needs of the economy and, for the first time in Greece, the Individual Skills Accounts are created, so that all the trainings and retraining of the unemployed and employees are recorded, the minister said.
From Monday, the fees of providers and trainees will be linked to the results of the training. 30% of the money related to these issues will be withheld and given only if the certification provided has been successfully completed. At the same time, the public universities of the country, pass for the first time, in the field of training.
From Monday, the modernization of the country’s housing policy begins, with the Public Employment Service as the main arm.
“These are the rules that this bill brings, and at the same time, it has an important regulation for fast track pensions and ‘trust’ pensions, so as to further accelerate the rate of return on pensions. They are regulations that combine the technology that is now available in EFKA, with confidence in the citizen “, said Mr. Hatzidakis and added:” ND asked for roll-call votes, for all the articles I mentioned and we will see how you will vote! Let’s see if everything you told us and all the attacks that “will be followed by the vote against the work allowance, the vote against the bonus for the long-term unemployed, the vote against the acceleration of the award of pensions. We will see who is really with the many and who with the dogmas and the guilds”!
Kostis Hatzidakis said that in the face of the insults, the government is continuing with work, it has already shown a writing sample. “We are, it is the Mitsotakis government that took unemployment to 17.2% and has dropped it to 12.8%. We are the ones who, through OAED, tripled the rates for active employment programs. We are the ones who last week In April, we will increase the minimum wage for employees by a significant increase. We are the one who will introduce the Digital Work Card from June. The Digital Work Card, a constant request of the GSEE, which the government of ND is implementing. We are the ones who have started the procedures, for the personal assistant to our disabled fellow citizens. synergy with ESAmeA the Digital Disability Card that will make the daily life of the disabled less difficult, in their contacts with the State. the neighbourhood’s. We are the one who is implementing another of our commitments, for Baby Care Areas in 120 large Greek companies. And of course we are the ones who, having a noticeable improvement in the rate of outstanding pensions, are moving forward with this bill, in a very serious reform of fast track pensions and trust pensions, for which I am curious how you will position yourself. You will go with the EFKA trade unionists or the distressed retirees who are waiting to receive their pension. “Let me see you in a little while”, said Kostis Hatzidakis.
The opposition
Earlier and in the order in which they spoke, the special speaker of MERA25 Maria Apatzidis, from the floor of Parliament, accused the government that once again it brings provisions that complement the social dissolution it is attempting. He referred in particular to the amendment to speed up the award of pensions, saying that the problem was created by the government itself and that “Mr. Hatzidakis, a man permanently and exclusively fed by the state coffers, has promoted a model of privatization of ΕΦΚΑ “. He also said that Kostis Hatzidakis is known from the past, for his commitment to anti-state, through a variety of anti-social bills and that he is the politician who always tries to present privatization as a unique solution. He is the man who failed miserably in the issue of awarding pensions, he panicked and that is why he resorts to the current amendment, which in essence, provides for the “self-service” of the insured, in order to grant them a pension, for fear of retroactive punishment. the amendment “of course it will vote against” MERA25.
Hellenic Solution’s special speaker Maria Athanassiou said that while the bill promises jobs, but finds solutions, it does not provide anything for the modernization of OAED for its cooperation with companies and in essence the penalties are intended to oblige the registered unemployed , on penalty of suspension of benefits, to participate in training programs. He predicted that even harsher conditions of exploitation of workers would be imposed. Maria Athanassiou warned that the regulations of the amendment for the acceleration of the granting of pensions, may even blow up the operation of the Funds. He noted, however, that the Hellenic Solution, although it was a fiasco to assign the calculation of pensions to individuals and that is why this amendment is coming, will support it, because it supports “anything to do with social policy” hoping to end the suffering of retirees.
KKE’s special spokesman Christos Katsotis complained that once again the government is bringing another anti-labor bill. Referring to the amendment for the acceleration of pensions, the KKE MP questioned the data on the outstanding pensions, adding that there is no discussion about the outstanding supplementary pensions. Especially for the “Trust” pension, Christos Katsotis pointed out that he legalizes the delay of three and five years, because then the pension will become final, and if the audit shows that the pensioner must return money, he will return it with interest and he may also lose his house, because his pension will not be enough to raise money. With this reasoning, Christos Katsotis said that the KKE is voting against the amendment, considering it a mockery and deception.
The rapporteur of the Movement for Change, George Moulkiotis, called for improvements in the amendment to speed up the granting of pensions, in order to solve the problems of people who have applied for retirement and their applications were rejected, due to a lack of insurance days. The problem covers another category of applicants with the amendment, creating two measures and two weights, he said.
SYRIZA’s rapporteur Konstantinos Barkas complained that the OAED transformation is related to the figures for the unemployed in Greece, and pointed out that the government has not yet answered how much the renaming of OAED will cost. He also denounced punitive measures, distributing money to friends and relatives.
Source: Capital

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