“The Greek government has moved from the logic of distributing poverty to the logic of increasing national income, growth and creating new jobs, and that is a profit for everyone. “We already have a very significant reduction in unemployment compared to the one we received from the previous government, despite the effects of the coronavirus on the market”, underlined the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakisduring his speech at a conference on Nicosia for the Future of Europe, organized by the Glafkos Clerides Institute.
In his position on the section on social issues, Mr. Hatzidakis stressed: “Following good European practices, Greece has to show tangible results in dealing with unemployment and employee income support. We reduced corporate taxation from 29% to 22%, in order to be attractive for investment, following, as far as possible, financially, the example of Cyprus. We have reduced insurance contributions for employers and employees. We have drastically simplified business licensing. We enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which balances the goal of business competitiveness with the goal of protecting workers, and adopted measures to protect workers and the unemployed, which already exceed € 9 billion. This is the largest support program adopted in recent years. All these interventions took place, as not only did unemployment not increase, as many expected, but, on the contrary, Greece achieved in 2021 the highest rate of reduction of unemployment in the EU, from 17.2% in 2019 to 12.8% now!”.
“As we leave pandemic“We are focused on creating more and more new and quality jobs”, continued the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, describing the planning for the next day and the promoted measures, which, as he explained, are part of three pillars:
“First, providing incentives for private sector recruitment. In 2022 alone, about 86,000 new jobs are expected to be created through OAED special programs.
Secondly, providing opportunities skills upgrading and retraining of the country’s workforce. Through the Recovery Fund, more than 1 billion euros will be spent in the coming years to train 500,000 of our fellow citizens in digital and green skills. At the same time, we are promoting a major institutional reform of vocational education and training, in order to ensure the quality of the programs provided and the money to “take place”.
Thirdly, enhanced support from employment services to jobseekers. We are rapidly advancing the modernization of OAED, by upgrading its human resources, but also its digital and building infrastructure “.
“In addition”, added Mr. Hatzidakis, “the government has spread protection net for the most vulnerable our fellow citizens. The budget for welfare and social benefits granted is increased on an annual basis. Through the NSRF, it is planned to spend in the next programming period funds of the order of 2 billion euros for social inclusion projects, while the Recovery Fund promotes modern social protection tools, such as the Disability Card, the personal assistant for the disabled, the creation of 50,000 promoting the deinstitutionalisation of vulnerable adolescents and the creation of an integrated early intervention framework for children with disabilities and developmental disorders ”.
“The European Social Model is our compass, showing that development and social justice are complementary and not conflicting goals “, noted Mr. Hatzidakis, placing the policies of the Greek government in the framework of the EU. even more urgent, “in the light of the great challenges facing the European social model, such as the ‘eastward’ pressures of the competitiveness of the economy due to globalization, the digital transformation, the adaptation to a climate-neutral economy, the population aging and of course the coronavirus pandemic, which has been added in the last two years to the structural challenges mentioned above “.
Closing his post, o Minister of Labor and Social Affairs He stressed: “Social Europe is not an abstract idea, but a goal that requires specific policies and actions. “The Greek government has moved from the logic of distributing poverty to the logic of increasing national income and that is the profit for everyone: for businesses, for the working people, for the weak.”
Finally, it is noted that on the sidelines of the conference, which was attended by, among others, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias Mr.The Vice President of the European Commission Margaritis Schoinas, Mr. Hatzidakis had a meeting with the Minister of Labor of the Republic of Cyprus Zeta Aimilianidou, with whom they discussed issues of mutual interest.
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