A Central Register of Allowances, following the standards of other European countries, is launched by the financial staff and the co-competent ministries in order to have an overall integrated picture of the amount of allowanceswhich are directed and who are the beneficiaries. The aim is through monitoring and control to identify cases of abuse and injustice and to make decisions about changes that make the benefit policy more effective.

The government has already announced changes in the policy of allowances, without reducing the overall budget of their expenses, as it is found that the current framework and criteria for granting them creates phenomena of abuse and injustice, causing, at the same time, distortions in various sectors.

The need for interventions in this direction has been spoken by the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis as well as the Governor of the Bank of Greece Giannis Stournaras. The minister, in fact, in his recent statements referring to the change in the way freelancers are taxed based on the presumptive way of determining their income, said that it resulted in cost savings of 100 million euros. These are benefits that were paid to professionals who had very low incomes under the previous tax regime. Also, in his report on monetary policy, the Governor of the Bank of Greece noted that the current practice of awarding benefits, based only on declared incomes in an economy with increased tax evasion, leads to an irrational and unfair use of public resources.

Two first moves in this direction are, on the one hand, the decision of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family based on which from the beginning of 2025, almost all OPECA benefits will be paid by 50% via prepaid card, on the other hand, the plan being processed by the Ministry of Labor for changes in the context of the criteria for granting the unemployment benefit. The goal of the intervention planned by the Minister of Labor, Niki Kerameos, is that the changes will strengthen the motivation of the currently unemployed to find work. In this way, it is estimated that the supply of work will increase in branches and sectors in which there are currently significant staff shortages, resulting in serious problems, distortions and significant malfunctions affecting the entire economy.

Based on the scripts processed by the Ministry of Labor the new unemployment benefit will be tiered and front-loaded so that the unemployed receive a higher amount for the first two to three months and a lower amount as the time of the subsidy runs out. Thus they will have the incentive to join the labor market as soon as possible. In particular, it is being considered that the basic allowance be 70%% of the minimum wage instead of 61.4% today for the first two or three months and then decrease to 60% or 50% of the minimum wage. The total amount of the benefit will remain at current levels with the difference that the unemployed person will receive a higher amount at the beginning of the subsidy period and a smaller amount thereafter. Also, a seniority bonus will be added to the new allowance, which is being considered to be paid to unemployed people who have been employed for more than three years. For the seasonal allowance paid to those employed in tourism, there will be a change in the criteria for granting it with the aim of strengthening the incentive to continue employment after the end of the tourist season.