One of the coalition government’s more controversial bailout obligations to the troika is to carry out thousands of dismissals in an effort to restructure the public sector. In 2014 the government must fire 11,000 and suspend a further 12,500 – mostly in healthcare, local government and the insurance funds.
To that end, Ministries are taking legislative initiatives to achieve these targets; the Ministry of Administrative Reform recently announced plans for the abolition of 23 public bodies and organizations, while the Ministry of Health has decided to convert EOPYY into a buyer of healthcare services that will see 8,500 in healthcare suspended.
With municipal and European elections coming up though, it appears that the coalition government does not wanting to rush the suspensions; regulations state that it is not allowed to change the administrative status of public sector employees two prior and after elections. When To Vima requested a clarification from the Ministry of Administrative Reform, the response was elusive: “we are not aware of such a matter”.
In any case the coalition government will want to take advantage of the situation and give the illusion of resisting demands, in an effort to avoid confrontation and mass demonstrations that are expected to escalate. Particularly in local government, the Ministries of Administrative Reform and Interior are working on a municipal transfer and mobility scheme to cover needs.
