About 25,000 citizens with debts of up to 30,000 euros to the EFKA can get a pension, said the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Domna Michailidou, in an interview on the TV station ACTION 24.

Specifically, Mrs. Michailidou said the following: “The Joint Ministerial Decision (JMA) was published, based on which the ceiling for debts to the e-EFKA is increased by 50%, from 20,000 euros to 30,000 euros. We want citizens who can settle their debts and get their pension, we don’t want debtors. The conditions, in order to join this favorable arrangement, are that they do not have deposits that exceed 12,000 euros and that they have paid their contributions for at least 20 years. 60% of their pension will be withheld by EFKA to settle their debt and then, like the rest of the debtors, they will enter the 60 installments. We estimate that 25,000 of our fellow citizens will benefit from this regulation.

This decision has retroactive effect, i.e. those who have previously applied for a pension and did not proceed, because they owed more than 20,000 euros to EFKA can also benefit».

For the doctors of the Disability Certification Centers (KEPA), the Minister of Labor indicated that, today, the deadline for submitting applications for the inclusion of 700 additional doctors in the KEPA was extended until June 2, 2024, so that we receive more applications.

As he noted, “for the whole of Greece, there were only 500 KEPA doctors, as a result of which it is greatly difficult to serve our fellow citizens with disabilities. We are more than doubling them, reaching 1,200, adding new specialties, such as paediatricians, psychiatrists, child psychologists and rheumatologists, and increasing their salaries by 50%. We invite doctors to enter the EFKA platform and register, according to their own schedule.”

To a question about the tour, in view of the European elections, Mrs. Michailidou answered the following: “I am in Naxos, together with the Secretary General of Social Insurance, Nikos Milapidis, the Secretary General of EOT, Dimitris Fragakis and the administrators of EFKA and DYPA, so that we can see the problems of its residents up close. The tourism industry has one of the best Collective Bargaining Agreements, with wages well above the basic and flexible hours. Through continuous and intensive audits, we strive to ensure that workers in the tourism industry enjoy not only fair wages, but also better living and housing conditions. These checks are a key pillar of our policy for the protection of workers’ rights and the fight against undeclared and undeclared work. We work closely with all stakeholders to identify and correct any violations, ensuring that working conditions in tourism are worthy of the expectations and needs of workers. At the same time, we are also next to the hoteliers, who have difficulty finding skilled workers. Through the programs of DYPA, we have already trained 220,000 of our fellow citizens, while, in April, we set a record for new jobs, reaching 170,000».

With reference to the unemployment benefit, Mrs. Michailidou emphasized that it is not a change that will take place overnight. “We are in a pilot stage, so that both the labor market and the citizens can adapt. To this day, there is a great injustice in this particular issue. If one of our fellow citizens works for one year on the minimum wage and another works for 20 years on a salary of 2,000 euros and they lose their job, they will receive exactly the same unemployment benefit. We want there to be proportionality, i.e. the person who works for more years and with higher earnings should also be entitled to a higher unemployment benefit” clarified the Minister of Labor.

Finally, regarding the camps, Mrs. Michailidou underlined that 37,000 children, aged between 6 and 16, can go to camp for at least two weeks, without income criteria. The EFKA platform is still open.