10.000 notes for public sector redundancies

Extension of the anxiety over the new measures continues, after the teleconference between Evangelos Venizelos and the Troika. As it became known, a new teleconference will take place tomorrow at 7pm, after the technical teams located in Athens refine certain elements.

In a notice distributed late at night during the teleconference, the Finance Minister stated that “there has been a productive and substantive discussion”.

However, according to information friction existed over the issue of redundancies in the public sector, since the Troika wants drastic solutions “here and now”. It has not been made known, though, if the government will be meeting tomorrow for further measures.

Protothema.gr is informed that as a result of the pressure by the Troika, the Minister of Administrative Reform and eGovernment, Dimitris Reppas, will give instructions about the first 10,000 personal notes to be sent out to public sector employees to be placed into reserve, with the Troika insisting on immediate redundancies.

What is certain is that there was no agreement between the government and the Troika, even during the two-and-a half-hour teleconference ending at 21:50 at night.

The Treasury describes the situation as “substantive and productive” and “We did better than we expected”, according to protothema.gr’s source.

The next conference will be preceded by an inspection from the technical team of the Troika into the details of expenditures available to the Treasury, in order to determine if the interventions proposed by the Greek side can cover the 2 billion “black hole”.

Characteristically, there exists information on the Finance Minister meeting the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

The meeting on Monday was attended by Mr. Venizelos, George Zanias, secretary general Elias Plaskovitis and the three heads of the teams of the ECB, the EU and the IMF.

Measures “in play”:
As reported earlier by protothema.gr, the measures tabled are:

- The reduction of the tax-free threshold to 4000 euros, meaning that even earnings of 350 euros a month will be taxed.
- Pension cuts for pensions over 1500 euros and possibly the suspension of pensions for all those under 55 years of age.
- The immediate redundancy of 50.000 employees in the public sector.
- The introduction of new objective tax criteria for professionals.
- The acceleration of privatizations planned for 2012, such as the PPC and OPAP
- The abolition of double pensions policy holders

As the Sunday “Proto Thema” presented on Sunday, there is the possibility of deferring a salary and a pension for the public sector in 2011.