2024-07-19 14:33:07
“I am going through a necessary restoration of the truth: The five-day work and the 40-hour workday are not abolished in Greece. The possibility was simply given for an additional work shift in specific and minimal sectors of the economy, such as businesses that operate non-stop 7 days a week, 24 hours a day with at least 3 consecutive shifts,” says Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his standard weekly Facebook post. in which he refers to many topics in the news, including the NATO Summit, which took place last week in the USA.
The entire post by K. Mitsotakis
Good morning to one and all. I want to start by expressing my disgust at the attack on former US President Donald Trump. Political violence is unacceptable in democratic societies. I wish him a full and speedy recovery, as well as those bystanders who were injured, and condolences to the family of the man from the crowd who was killed.
This week the focus of the news may have been the NATO Summit, but I have a lot of “domestic” things to tell you and I hope some of them will pique your interest.
I will start with security and the battle we wage against crime, whatever form it takes, wherever it is. Lawlessness and widespread impunity hurt citizens’ trust in institutions and primarily affect the most vulnerable. That is why the recent great successes of ELAS executives – and I congratulate them – in solving heinous crimes that have shocked us all are of great importance for strengthening the feeling of security. The doctrine of legality everywhere is here to stay and we are determined to clash with anyone who doesn’t get it. Especially in Mykonos, where the competent Minister was this week together with high-ranking officials of ELAS, we are committed – as we proved last year that we can do it – that the networks of delinquency that think they define the fate of this beautiful island will be uprooted. The state will impose legality on Mykonos as well as anywhere else the shadows of the night think they can impose darkness.
Legitimacy everywhere with drastic interventions and in places where blatantly illegal behavior was tolerated, such as in Universities. I am reminded of the recent eviction of occupation that existed since 2016 (!) in building facilities of the School of Medicine of the AUTH. Legitimacy also in prisons with regular as well as extraordinary controls, like yesterday’s in Korydallos with many illegal findings. We are thus responding to society’s own demand for more security, as the Minister of Citizen Protection said, announcing the extension of the measure of electronic surveillance with cameras that will be placed in collaboration with the Mayors of Kalamata and Messina, in areas where criminal activity is recorded.
I am moving on to a necessary restoration of the truth: the five-day and 40-hour workday is NOT being abolished in Greece. It simply allowed for an additional work shift in specific and minimal sectors of the economy, such as businesses that operate continuously 7 days a week, 24 hours a day with at least 3 consecutive shifts. Exceptionally, it can be applied by businesses that also operate on a 24-hour basis, 5 or 6 days a week. That is, a small number of businesses, mainly industries, that must meet the criteria and will be checked for this by labor inspectors with the help of the digital employee card that we piloted in previous years and now extends to the entire labor market.
There is NO change in working hours for workers in shops, supermarkets, offices, banks or services, all of you who work in these sectors have seen it. I repeat, it only concerns businesses with continuous operation and of course the fixed already legislated working time limits apply in full, without disturbing the upper limit of overtime work which has a ceiling of 150 hours per year.
That is why the extra shift on the 6th day is PROHIBITED to have added overtime and overtime. And let’s not forget that this extra work can ONLY be done with the employee’s consent and is paid at 40% more pay and at 115% if the shift falls on a Sunday.
Regarding the four-day work, let me remind you that Greece is one of the first countries to have instituted the 4-day work week with the “Jobs Again” law, precisely because we want a labor market that provides security and flexibility to the employee, with higher legal incomes instead of a job jungle, lawlessness, dishonesty, undeclared work and unpaid overtime. We have proven that the reforms we have made in the labor market have led to the fastest reduction of unemployment compared to Europe in recent years precisely because we protect the worker, while reducing the non-wage costs for the employer and the worker, which acts as an incentive to increase employment. We want Greek workers to have better – in every respect – employment conditions, greater protection as well as a balance of personal and professional life with the aim of supporting the new family.
That is why we extended the special maternity leave and the birth allowance to new categories of working mothers employed in DEKOs, banks and SMEs, without income criteria. The relevant ministerial decision was signed a few days ago which enables them to request the 9-month leave (employers cannot deny it) and the accompanying allowances (birth, caesarean section, pregnancy and maternity) which in total amount to just over 13,000 euros. In fact, there is also retroactive effect from November 2022.
I would like to remind you that the platform for submitting applications for nurseries has opened. Our concern is that no child is left out this year. That’s why we increased the budget to 361.2 million euros to cover 173,000 vouchers that will also be given to people with disabilities over 22 years old, while we provided for increased allocation for families with many children, three children and single parents.
I wrote to you 3 weeks ago about Thessaly and Evros Pass, a government action to support tourism in the areas of Thessaly and Evros affected by floods and fires respectively, and I must say there was a lot of interest. So, on Tuesday, the beneficiaries of the action were posted, which amount to 35,000!
Let me come now to the very important initiative of the Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation to undertake the housing costs of eligible students in hotels, in areas where there are still no beds available in University dormitories – for the next two academic years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 . Specifically in Crete (Heraklion, Rethymnon), in Western Macedonia (Florina, Kastoria, Ptolemaida) and Thrace (Drama, Didymoteicho, Xanthi). gives significant financial relief to families and students who meet the housing criteria.
I continue with the area of Sports and the “Digital Register of Members of Fan Clubs”, the electronic database in which the members of the Fan Clubs of sports associations, the Departments of Paid Athletes, the Anonymous Sports Societies and their legal branches are registered. Thus, for the first time in our country, there will be complete mapping of the members of each Fan Club, which will contribute to a more effective supervision and control of each of their operations. The Clubs are obliged to submit every year by August 20 the data and the necessary supporting documents in order for the Ministry of Sports to issue the necessary Certificate of Legal Operation. If they do not respond or do so improperly, the operating license of the Club’s offices and Branches will be suspended for three months, or even permanently in the case of three…six sins.
I’m staying on site to tell you that the new ticket control and fan identification system is being extended to basketball. From September 16, all the matches of the Basket League, the Greek Cup and international competitions will be held exclusively in sports facilities that have this feature. From August 17 – with the start of the new season, that is, the measure will begin to be applied to football. So, all sports fans will identify their ticket – whether simple or season ticket – through the Gov.gr Wallet application. For digital identification, they will be required to register in the National Register of Communications (emep.gov.gr) and download the application to their mobile phone.
A milestone for the further improvement and strengthening of the rule of law in our country is the new reform which enables the judiciary to have – for the first time – a say in the selection of the leaders of the Supreme Courts. It was one of the standing recommendations of the EU to Greece that has remained unimplemented until today. The proposed reform, which strengthens the independence of the Judiciary, is included in the Ministry of Justice bill that was submitted to Parliament a few days ago, and I hope that this crucial provision will be upvoted by the opposition, so that the parties can demonstrate in practice their interest in the rule of law and the institutions in our country
I will switch to the new platform created by the Greek Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Ministry of Development (for professionals and businesses in order to have quick and easy access to information on all sources of funding from state aid, but also to favorably regulate any obligations A navigator, that is, to the many available financial tools and actions that are of interest to professionals and businesses, the conditions and conditions for their utilization.
And since I mentioned digital platforms, let’s see what’s new from the digital state. Already the digital services of gov.gr have increased by approximately 300 within a year, now exceeding 1800.
I start with the “Digispect” application for digitizing the process of autopsies and recording of buildings affected by a natural disaster. Thus, the competent engineers will be able to process a greater number of autopsies in a shorter period of time. I am continuing with the digitization of the mortgage registries, where now the files in 30 Mortgage Registries in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki are available at archive.ktimatologio.gr for first level research. I remind you that the project started last January and it will take another year to digitize all 390 stores in the country (about 600 million pages!). But the project will be completed.
About 5,000 degrees (first, second and third cycle degrees from 2022 onwards) of the University of Crete are now available through gov.gr. It is the 21st University Institution, whose graduates can issue an electronic copy of their degree through ptyxia.gov.gr.
Concluding today’s review, let’s remember how special this July is for our country, as it marks 50 years since the restoration of the Republic and the beginning of the Post-Revolution. This important political cycle began with the national trauma of the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus. However, it developed into a period of political stabilization, during which we avoided wars, civil wars and state deviations that had marked the first 150 years of the life of the modern Greek state. The experience of the transition from dictatorship to democracy, not only in Greece, but also in Spain and Portugal, is presented in a very interesting exhibition that was recently opened at the National Gallery-Museum of Alexandros Soutsos, which I recommend you to visit. A different reflection, a different look at the political history of southern Europe.
Somewhere here I will leave you. Happy Sunday to all!