Hatzidakis: Additional funding to TEBA – Examining the possibility of extending the Community Service

The five axes on which the government’s social policy actions are structured, which prove the strong relationship between the Ministry of Labor and the Regions, were presented by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, during his speech at the regular conference of the Union of Regions of Greece (ENPE).

In his intervention, Mr. Hatzidakis informed the representatives of the Regions that the possibility of extending the current Community Service program is being considered, based on available resources. He also made it known that by his decision, 12 million euros will be added from national resources to the Basic Food and Material Assistance Program in order to ensure a smooth transition from TEBA to NSRF and to continue the provision of free food and material goods to the Regions of the entire country.

As Mr. Hatzidakis emphasized, “Social cohesion at the regional level is a key priority of the government and fully integrated into the actions we implement”, which he specified as follows:

1. Actions to strengthen employment with a regional dimension implemented by DYPA with funding from European resources. Two new programs of this category were presented from the stage of TIF. The first concerns the grant of business initiatives with an emphasis on the digital economy aimed at unemployed people aged 30-45 who will receive 15,000 euros each. And the second, with a budget of 119.7 million euros, to subsidize the work of 10,000 long-term unemployed in areas with high unemployment.
2. Actions to support employment in the lignite areas which are at the center of the “social package” of DYPA, totaling 107 million euros. As Mr. Hatzidakis said, these actions have begun to be implemented and he added that DYPA and the Ministry of Labor will continue to invest significant resources in active employment policies in the coming years as well, utilizing the Recovery Fund and the new NSRF.
3. Community Service Programs: During the pandemic, these programs supported the Regions and Municipalities through the employment of 36,000 of our fellow citizens, while this year a new program was launched which has a budget to cover 25,000 beneficiaries, thanks to which the beneficiaries, mainly long-term unemployed, offer work in Regions and Municipalities. The possibility of extension is considered in this program.
4. Welfare benefits in kind: Nurseries and TEBA. Mr. Hatzidakis made a special reference to the subsidy programs for nurseries, daycare centers and Creative Employment Centers, underlining that the approved budget this year amounts to 333 million euros from 270 million euros in 2019. “We give more vouchers than ever from the whole program and we fully cover all applications for nurseries and KDAP-DISABLED and even with increased income criteria”, said Mr. Hatzidakis.

Speaking about the Basic Food and Material Assistance Program, he said that it is implemented through Social Partnerships with the Regions and Municipalities of the country and thanks to its actions, approximately 400,000 vulnerable Greeks (beneficiaries of the Guaranteed Minimum Income) receive free food and basic material goods.

The program was financed for the previous years with 330 million euros from the TEBA (Fund of European Aid for the Needy), while by an earlier decision of the Minister of Labor another 62 million euros were added from national resources in the period 2021-2022 due to the extraordinary needs that caused by the pandemic.

400 million euros have been secured for the program from the new NSRF 2021-2027. However, because some regions have exhausted their resources, the minister noted that he signed a relevant decision so that 12 million euros would be added and there would be no gap in the actions of the program.

5. New NSRF 2021-2027: Finally, Mr. Hatzidakis reminded that in the field of action of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs additional funds of the order of 1 billion. euros that have been included in the Regional Operational Programs of the new NSRF, with the individual actions aimed at the social inclusion of vulnerable groups and social cohesion.

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