They are thinking of cutting bonuses and leaving allowances

Pension bonuses, main pensions and special payrolls were the focus of the Wednesday night meeting between the leaders of the three ruling parties. The meeting did not bear any fruit and Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis will make the final decisions in a new meeting during the coming days.

These decisions will be about the following measures:

Pension bonuses

Cutting bonuses for all pensioners and leaving civil servant allowances was a key topic of the meeting. The expected profit reaches 2.5 billion euros. The concern lies in the social injustices that such a decision will cause, as for example cuts of 30 euros will be avoided in OGA pensions, but in practice the pensioners of 360 euros will lose 720 a year. Low-level pensioners will be affected by the allowance cuts, expected to reach 12%. The Democratic Left’s proposal is to have scaled cuts.

Pensions

The proposed cuts will have a 4.6-billion-euro benefit and will possibly include pensions from 650 euros and more. 

Special payrolls and EKAS

Disagreements are still lingering concerning these two issues.

Special allowances

There are objections to the cuts on disability benefits and there was a proposal for reduction without an income cap.

The proposals of the Democratic Left

Bigger cuts in:

- supplies of health equipment

- defense

- priests' salaries (110 million euro benefit)

- an amount of the 11.5-billion package to be registered under an equivalent clause. This means that if growth or revenues from tax evasion increase, some of the cuts will not be implemented.