Reppas against Ragousis and other ministers over the reserve

“Jabs” against ministries’ services which are slow to register their reservists, but also towards his predecessor, were delivered by Admin. Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas during the briefing he had with political editors on Friday morning.

The Minister described his effort in implementing the reserve rule and wondered “why not have the mergers all this time, why reach the summer and vote for article 4002, why start the payroll in October, why have we not granted a right for electronic signatures, and why haven’t we developed the employee evaluation system?”.

He added that heading to the ministry, he found a policy voted since this summer. However, mentioning last night’s cabinet meeting and the clashes that developed therein, he mentioned that he did not criticize the census and that only Deputy PM Evangelos Venizelos called it “unfortunate”. Mr. Reppas stated that “this wasn’t a comment against Ragousis. He has done a lot of work here”.

Commenting on the criticism that he received on the issue of reserves during the cabinet meeting, he disputed that he considers that all the negative consequences of reserves were more than the positive ones, and he is also not responsible, as he claims, for any delays from other ministries.

Layoffs on the table.

Reiterating that the objective of the reserve is 30000 employees by mid-January, Mr. Reppas ascertained that additional staff might have to depart. The Constitution does not allow layoffs unless permanent positions are abolished. He stressed that some permanent positions have been cancelled, but even more could follow suit.

In this case, Mr. Reppas stated that the employee holding an abolished post may not be laid off, but another person might take his place after the evaluation reports that will begin in 2012. He also made it clear that the Society of Information has already begun the procedures for a competition to find companies that will undertake the review.

Moreover, Mr. Reppas stated that in his view, the Papademos  government is one of "national purpose" and that its life is determined by the needs of the country and not the needs of the parties. Speaking of Mr. Lucas Papademos, the Minister of Administrative Reform called him the "servant of public interest", who is not assumed to carry a title, but is tasked with completing a project. He rejected the "invention of 'anti-coalition' " and said he respects his colleagues in the same cabinet.