Samaras ended the disgrace of appointing relatives

The revelations about the shameful appointment spree in parliament provoked the reaction of PM Antonis Samaras, who gave the order to institute a ban on hiring spouses and relatives of up to the second degree.

The statement by the General Secretariat of the government reads: "Prime minister Antonis Samaras instructed the General Secretariat of the government, to take an initiative within the coming week about the status of hiring revocable state employees. The PM’s intention is to have a hiring ban on spouses and relatives of up to the second degree for all public officials who may employ revocable state staff."

Recent events that seem to have caused the PM’s reaction are the provocative appointments in parliament of: former Parliament president Vyron Polydoras' daughter, a relative of the first vice president Yannis Tragakis, the Independent Greeks president’s nephew, Panos Kammenos, and a relative of Philip Petsalnikos.

Nikitas Siois’ appointment as revocable employee at the parliament office of the Golden Dawn in also striking. It should be noted that Siois was the unemployed candidate of the party in Serres who, even though he got elected as an MP, resigned due to work pressure, eventually getting hired in parliament.

It should be noted that those who have the right to hire revocable employees are the: president of parliament, vice presidents, the general secretary, the special secretary, the former president of parliament, presidents of parliamentary groups, former prime ministers who served as MPs and party leaders, former government vice presidents and former presidents of parliamentary groups.

Thus, more than 150 relatives are "accommodated" in personal offices maintained in parliament by, among others, Kostas Simitis, Nikos Konstantopoulos, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Nikitas Kaklamanis, Anna Psarouda-Benaki, Dimitris Sioufas, Kostas Karamanlis, George Papandreou, Theodoros Pangalos, Philippos Petsalnikos, Vyron Polydoras etc.

According to the relevant parliamentary budget code, the annual allocation for the payment of such employees is 2,791,700 euros.

However, the PM’s decision will not have a retroactive effect.