April 25, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Social dividend for Easter: what’s new

With a limited budget, the Greek government is preparing a decision to issue a “special Easter gift” to vulnerable groups of citizens, as financial assistance in difficult conditions of inflation.

Rising energy prices make multifaceted government intervention absolutely necessary to keep the Greek economy from collapsing. The situation is extremely volatile: negotiations are underway, and Europe is looking for a way out of its dependence on Russian gas, notes dikaiologitika.gr.

A price race is shaking across Europe, with the Commission considering scenarios to mitigate the effects of rising energy prices on households and businesses. At the same time, the Greek government is “weighing” budgetary surpluses to determine the size of the emergency assistance to citizens.

It goes without saying that over time the budget shrinks and the possibilities that the Greek economy has to support businesses and households become increasingly limited.

In Athens, they believe that now the European Commission needs to fully intervene in the logic of the Recovery Fund with the sole purpose of supporting businesses and households.

According to Bloomberg, a more concrete proposal could be presented after the leaders EU will hold extraordinary summit in France, scheduled for March 10-11. Officials are still working out the details of how the joint bonds could work, as well as the amount of money that needs to be raised.

Decisions are expected in March and they will set the framework within which the Greek government will act to start making decisions. Obviously, time is running out, as officials indicate that decisions should be made in the coming days, and they should be followed by the development of the provisions of the relevant legislation.

Lack of time is one of the main factors driving the government’s financial staff to follow the Christmas allowance model, with a €250 payout for low-income pensioners and the disabled, and a doubling of the allowance for welfare recipients (social dividend).

The benefit was received by about 1,000,000 recipients, of which 800,000 were pensioners. There are many scenarios under consideration, they are based on the budget framework and are aimed at supporting low-income pensioners, the unemployed and low-paid workers.

The model for retirees will resemble the Christmas bonus, with specific criteria for income and assets. In particular, the beneficiaries were pensioners with an annual individual income of up to 7,200 euros (pension 600 euros), an annual family income of 14,400 euros (pension 600 + 600 euros) and property up to 200,000 euros.



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