Effie Achtsioglou

A parcel addressed to Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou that was discovered in the courtyard area of Parliament, and initially deemed suspicious, was found to contain books, authorities said on Tuesday.

The discovery of the package behind an auxiliary building used by the Vouli television station initially threw Parliament security into high alert.

As MPs brace for another vote in Parliament on Friday, aimed at approving the final batch of so-called prior actions demanded by Greece's creditors, new concerns have arisen over the objections of foreign officials to a new education bill perceived as plunging universities into the past.

The government will in the next few days have to include in its list of 140 prior actions agreed with the country's creditors the new, indirect hike in social security contributions for 1.4 million freelance workers, self-employed professionals and farmers that Kathimerini recently revealed.

The Labor Ministry is contemplating the provision of incentives to employers with workers paid through invoices, as it realizes the clause of the 2016 law aimed at encouraging the declaration of such employees has failed to produce the desired result. In this context, Minister Effie Achtsioglou is seeking ways to finance a special program for subsidizing the contributions of employers.

The adjustment to pensions being considered by the government will inflict cuts ranging from 5 to 620 euros per month for at least 1.4 million pensioners if the reduction of the so-called "personal difference" - the gap between the pension as calculated according to the old method and that using the new calculation system - is imposed on all retirees.

The mood in the leftist-led government was tense on Tuesday as officials and MPs are divided over the prospect of privatizing the Public Power Corporation, the latest stumbling block in negotiations with the country's international creditors.

After Monday's inconclusive Eurogroup in Brussels, the government has been forced, once again, to defer its deadline for a deal with the country's international lenders.

With the April 7 Eurogroup in Malta now ruled out, government officials are hoping for a staff-level agreement before then, and a comprehensive deal by May.

Attempts by Greek government officials to bridge a gulf in dragging negotiations with representatives of the country's international creditors failed to bear fruit on Friday, indicating that a breakthrough in bailout talks may be unlikely until May.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Labor and Social Insurance Minister Effie Achtsioglou on Wednesday briefed SYRIZA lawmakers on the progress of bailout talks and the sticking points but the move appeared to increase MPs' concerns rather than easing them.

Women, especially young women, have been hit particularly hard by Greece's economic crisis, Labor and Social Insurance Minister Effie Achtsioglou told the Parliament in Athens on Wednesday on the occasion of International Women's Day.