Social security debtors need only apply to EFKA for settlement

The Labor Ministry has included a clause in the government's investment incentives bill, which is currently up for public consultation, aiming to convince thousands of Greeks with debts to social security funds to join a settlement program by September 30. The target is for at least 10 percent of the total 35 billion euros of contributions owed to enter a settlement mechanism.

Debtors include thousands of self-employed and freelance professionals with debts to the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) who may have started the settlement process but not completed it. Many of the latter ran into technical problems, the most common of which was delays in calculating the precise sum of their dues to the former funds that have now been incorporated into EFKA.

Despite the small increase in applications submitted in recent days, debtors' interest in coming to an arrangement...