Without explaining how it would cut costs or the government’s bloated payroll, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said a deal struck with the country’s international lenders that calls for the firing of 15,000 workers over the next two years would allow all of them to be replaced with new, younger workers.
“At a time when uncertainty and concern around the world is rising, Greece is stabilizing and its position is becoming more secure,” said Samaras several hours after it had been revealed that the troika and his government had agreed on a series of actions that would secure the next loan tranche of 2.8 billion euros and pave the way for the next instalment of 6 billion euros, a total of 8.8 billion euros, or about $11.5 billion.
The deal requires the government to shed 4,000 workers this year and 11,000 more in 2014, including thousands of troublemakers who don’t show up to work, have faked their credentials, are disciplinary problems or have committed felonies, including murder, but are still on the government payroll.
He said that the redundancies would come from civil servants guilty of breaching their code of conduct, those who work for organizations that are to be closed down or merged and from early retirements. He emphasized that all the departing bureaucrats would be replaced by new hires.
“For each person that leaves, a new one will be hired through a totally meritocratic process,” he said. “This is not the so-called human sacrifice that some claim. This is a marked improvement of our public sector and it is what Greek society is demanding.”
The agreement between Athens and the troika means Greece will receive more than 7 billion euros ($9.15 billion) to complete its bank recapitalizations. Samaras said in his statement that this would mean that options such as a haircut for depositors would not be considered in Greece.
He also claimed that property owners would pay 15 percent less in emergency property tax this year and pledged that this would be the last year it would be levied via electricity bills. He ended his statement on an upbeat note, looking forward to the time when Greece would be free of its bailout commitments.
“Soon, Greece will not depend on the memorandums,” he said. “Greece will have growth, it will be competitive and outward-looking. In other words, we will have a strong Greece.”
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