Labor minister blames pressure, operational framework for failed distant training program

Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis on Thursday responded to accusations of incompetency by opposition parties over a series of problematic distance training voucher programs for scientists and self-employed professionals which were scrapped on Wednesday amid widespread criticism that they were makeshift and of low quality.

"We are not infallible. You can obviously change your decisions, you can say I made a mistake and I am changing it, in such an emergency environment," he told lawmakers in Parliament, where he answered questions tabled by main opposition SYRIZA.

Vroutsis blamed the pressure to make quick decisions amid the epidemic and the shortcomings of the institutional framework on the operation of the vocational training centres which he said were formed by the previous SYRIZA administration.

"We saw in time that the quality of the programs was not what we...