The Panhellenic petrol station federation POPEK has denounced the surprise amendments introduced in the statute of their sector’s supplementary insurance scheme and accused the Ministry of Labor of deceiving them.

According to POPEK, the Minister of Labor Yannis Vroutsis completely disregarded the warnings and memos sent by the federation and in a demonstration of “government absolutism and administrative arbitrariness” carried out the sudden change.

POPEK has refuted the Minister’s “audacious” claims that the change will not affect the state budget; the changes will affect the insurance fund, which in turn will further burden the budget.

Furthermore, the federation explains that the bonds held by the fund have suffered a 70% “haircut”, while 110 million euros from the fund’s reserves were seized as a “loan” from self employment insurance agency OAEE.