FinMin says government eyeing return of EKAS benefit for pensioners

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Tuesday that the government is pondering the reintroduction of a "solidarity benefit" for low-income pensioners in a "more targeted form," along with other measures including making it harder for the state to seize the deposits of indebted businesses.

"The abolition of EKAS was admittedly one of SYRIZA's greatest defeats," Tsakalotos said in an interview with Antenna TV on Tuesday, referring to the pensioners' social solidarity benefit by its Greek acronym.

"You win some, you lose some," he said of the negotiation with international creditors that resulted in the scrapping of the bonus, before adding that the government is "considering bringing it back, in a different, more targeted form."

Tsakalotos also said that a package of government handouts announced by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last week and which is...

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