Yiannis Vroutsis

One in three pensions will be issued online and within a single day as of June 1, 2020, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Yiannis Vroutsis decided on Friday in a meeting with Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos and Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis promised on Thursday that enterprises' non-salary costs in the form of social security contributions for employees will drop by five percentage points in the next four years.

The Labor Ministry's new leadership has set itself a major challenge, which is to digitally transform the social security system and be able to issue new pensions within a day.

New Labor and Social Affairs Minister Yiannis Vroutsis took over one of the most difficult portfolios on Tuesday from Effie Achtsioglou, promising to speed up the disbursement of hundreds of thousands of pending pensions and to crack down on labor law violations.

Pensioners remain in the dark about the recalculation of their pensions according to the 2016 law, as they have not yet been notified by the Labor and Social Security Ministry about their so-called personal difference - i.e. the part of their pension that is likely to be cut.

A prominent conservative MP and former minister, Yiannis Vroutsis, on Tuesday called on the Labor Ministry to respond to allegations that its online system for Single Social Security Fund (EFKA) pension applications was tampered with and thousands of applications removed.

The government's candidate chair for Greece's umbrella social security fund EFKA, Efstathios Marinos, withdrew from the nomination on Thursday, following an outcry over an apparent conflict of interest.

The appointment of Stathis Marinos to the chair of the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) proved ον Wednesday to be much more complex than expected. New Democracy said there may be a conflict of interest with the proposed successor to Thanassis Bakalexis, while SYRIZA deputies also expressed reservations.

Nearly 83,000 jobs were lost in the private sector in October 2016, according to data released by the Greek Labour Ministry. The data showed that over the month of October only 185,895 people were hired in the private sector compared to 268,705 who were rendered unemployed. In comparison, 56,473 jobs were lost in October 2015.

President of main opposition New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis set party’s new leadership team.

Former Minister Nikos Dendias is the new parliamentary spokesperson while MP Giorgos Koumoutsakos is party’s spokesperson. Both of them supported Mitsotakis’ opponent in the battle for ND leadership, Vangelis Meimarakis.