Bargaining and disagreements over cuts to special payrolls

The meeting was attended by Finance minister Yannis Stournaras, Citizen Protection minister Nikos Dendias, Defense minister Panos Panagiotopoulos and the heads of the three branches of the armed forces, as well as officers from the police and fire departments.

Information indicates that Dendias and Panagiotopoulos continue to react to additional cuts in the payrolls of the armed forces.

As protothema.gr published earlier, the original intention of the government was to replace this year's special payroll cuts (205 million euros) with equivalent horizontal cuts in expenses and to implement the measure in 2013 (saving 600 million euros annually).

Officials are also discussing the weighted average reduction of 12-14% in payroll costs for doctors, teachers, diplomats, civil servants, police, armed forces, but propose that it should be scaled to protect sectors that have already been severely affected, and are expressing strong opposition.

The largest cut in this proposal, about 20%, will come to judges and diplomats, as they are the group with the highest incomes. They are followed by teachers and priests by around 10%, doctors by 8% and uniformed officers by 5%.

Following this development, it is clear that decisions should be locked in the coming days, aiming to be ready for presentation to the Troika, and to be included in the preparation of the mid-term program and the preliminary draft budget.