On Tuesday the Prime Minister announced that a deal was finally struck with the EU, ECB and IMF triumvirate, after 178 days of negotiations, with Mr. Samaras stating that about 500 million euros would be allocated to benefits in May.
For the purposes of the deal with the troika, the primary surplus which the coalition government has focused on, was estimated to be 3 billion euros. In his Tuesday announcement Mr. Samaras repeated his claim to distribute part of it to vulnerable sections of society, including uniformed officers with wages less than 1,500 euros, while a separate 20-million-euro fund will be set up to support the homeless.
Regarding taxation, the government agreed to reduce a number of fines related to tax violation, while it also abolished the surplus value tax on real estate transaction for owners who have been in possession of property for 20-25 years.
The Prime Minister further explained that 1 billion euros – about a third of the surplus – would go towards paying off outstanding State debts, in an effort to boost the economy. A further billion euros will go yo cover the public debt. Additionally the government agreed to reduce insurance contributions by 3.9% (employers will contribute 2.9% less, while employees 1% less); this is expected to cause a 350-million-euro deficit that will be covered by the surplus.
Despite the positive outcome of the negotiations though, a senior Finance Ministry officer admitted the government has not considered the outstanding wage claims of judicial and uniformed officers. The high-ranking officer specifically mentioned that court decisions have vindicated judicial employees, with the government now forced to pay about 60 million euros in lost earnings. The government also expects to have to pay about 500 million euros in arrears towards uniformed officers, for wage cuts that were found to be unconstitutional.
