Hatzidakis: Amendment that “compensates” with 100 euros for each month of waiting for pending pensions

By the end of February, 40,000 supplementary pensions will have been issued out of a total of 80,000 that are pending from previous years, informed the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Kostis Hatzidakis, presenting to the Plenary the amendment, which is expected to be voted tonight on the bill of the Ministry of National Defense “Care in favor of the personnel of the Armed Forces, rationalization of the legislation of the Armed Forces, organization of the National Guard and other provisions” to speed up the granting of auxiliary pensions.

The Minister of Labor pointed out that it is common property now, that there is a lot of progress in the awarding of the main pensions, as in the last two years (2021 and 2022) more than half a million pensions were issued, 510,000 thousand to be exact, and he added that if anyone wants to compares it can be seen that 123,000 pensions were issued in 2019 and 290,000 main pensions in 2022.

“No one can dispute these numbers,” he said and explained that the ministry consciously gave weight to the awarding of the main pensions, and he said he was “happy” because now in our country new pension applications are issued on average in 60 days, while in Germany in 74 days.

Mr. Hatzidakis informed that today there are 80,000 auxiliary pensions waiting to be issued, as the main pension has been issued and because – as he said – by EFKA, all the modern tools used for the main ones are now used (electronic control tower, automated issuance of pensions to a large extent) there is the assurance that by the end of February out of these 80,000 outstanding pensions 40,000 will have been issued (ie 15,000 have been issued in January and another 25,000 in February).

As the minister in charge added, another 40,000 supplementary pensions remain to be issued, some of which are before 2021, and in this context, as the automation cannot fully function until the pensions are issued normally, it is the State’s duty to do what is proposed with the amendment that is going to be voted on today by the Parliament: That is, every pensioner who is waiting for his supplementary pension to be issued, to be given 100 euros for each month of waiting (e.g. for a one-year wait of 1,200 euros) until March 15 and net. If the supplementary pension is disability, the amount for each waiting month is fixed at 50 euros, since these pensions are smaller.

Also, in the same amendment, the arrangements for insurance capacity are extended since it concerns the medical care of certain categories (long-term unemployed, those who have suspended their activities due to coronavirus) without conditions.

At the same time, the regulation, which was voted by the Parliament last year, is extended for self-employed professionals so that they have insurance capacity until May 2023, provided that they have paid their insurance contributions to EFKA by 2022.

Finally, bereavement leave is introduced with a provision whereby working parents who lose their children are entitled to 20 days of leave.

Mr. Hatzidakis informed that with this regulation, the ministry responds to a request of the “Karkinaki” Association, which consists of parents who lost their children to cancer. “These are arrangements with a social sign, which unite us all”, said the responsible minister and called on the parties to vote for them.

RES-EMP

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.