A write-off of non-certified debts to the insurance fund EFKA after 10 years from 20, the doubling up of installments for outstanding insurance debts to 24 from 12, and the extension of a five-year recognition of service to all security forces (including firefighters and police) are some key regulations of an updated insurance system plan presented on Tuesday.
At a press conference, Labor & Social Affairs Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and the deputy and secretary general analysed the main points of the bill which had been presented earlier in the day at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Hatzidakis said the bill was the fourth intervention by the government of New Democracy to improve the system. It was preceded by a law (4672) correcting injustices introduced by the so-called Katrougalos law on social security, the founding of the Auxiliary Pensions Defined-Contributions Fund (TEKA) for young people's supplementary pension, and the upgrade and online services improvement at the central fund in Greece (Unified Social Security Agency, or EFKA).
"We have focused on injustices perpetrated up to now in our social security system, and for this reason we are adopting regulations that will affect hundreds of thousands of insured individuals," Hatzidakis said.
Deputy Labor & Social Affairs Minister Panos Tsakloglou said that the proposed changes included in the bill focus on four points: unifying insurance rules, addressing inequalities, protecting vulnerable groups of insured individuals, and aligning taxation and social insurance administrative rules.
The bill will be posted in its final form for public consultation before it is tabled in Parliament, the minister said. The government's focus is to guaranteeing a viable insurance system and on upgrading social security services in a way that best serves citizens.
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