Gov’t mulling fresh handouts ahead of elections

With an eye on upcoming local and European Parliament elections, along with the looming national elections, the Greek government is reportedly intent on distributing handouts and benefits to the tune of 658 million euros in a bid to bridge the gap in opinion polls with opposition New Democracy.
However, the government's intentions, which include an Easter handout, have come up against objections from the Finance Ministry, which has earmarked the sum to pay a one-off retroactive benefit to civil servants and public sector pensioners. It insists that the 2019 budget cannot afford handouts as this would derail primary surplus targets.
Greece will have a surplus of 3.3 percent of GDP instead of the 3.6 percent which the government has committed to achieve in 2019.
"We have no intention to spend [the 658 million euros] because it will then count as an expense for 2019 and...