Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-09-13

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Government in final stretch for shedding permanent public-sector jobs

[02] Health sector jobs not at risk, minister repeats

[01] Government in final stretch for shedding permanent public-sector jobs

Emerging from the government's headquarters, Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made statements concerning university administrative staff to be included in the public-sector mobility scheme, noting that the education ministry had set a deadline for the completion of an evaluation process.

"Whatever happens, we will be ready," he stressed, adding that the meeting had not discussed electoral law in any way.

The meeting focused on the civil servants' mobility scheme and the ministries' organisation charts, approving the updated staffing plans for ministries and bodies under their supervision. Major decisions concerning administrative reform are expected next week, when the government is due to unveil the 'Joint Ministerial Decisions' that will scrap surplus established and fixed positions held by individuals having tenure or employed on the basis of permanent private-sector contracts, as determined by an evaluation. According to the administrative reform ministry, this decisions will abolish some 2,000 such positions and the staff will be enter the civil service mobility scheme.

Among those attending Friday's meeting was government Vice-President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, the head of the PASOK party. According to PASOK sources, Venizelos said the message from the meeting should not focus only on mobility alone but highlight structural reforms and the functioning of the state to improve growth and services to the citizens.

He highlighted the need to separate mobility from lay offs in order to emphasise its role in improving the functioning of the civil service.

Others participating in the meeting included government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou and Interior Minister Yiannis Mihelakis, Minister of State Dimitris Stamatis, Alternate Interior Minister Leonidas Grigorakos and Deputy Administrative Reform Minister Evi Christofilopoulou.

[02] Health sector jobs not at risk, minister repeats

"The labour reserve pool at the health ministry began the day before yesterday ...We have placed 1,665 in total in the labour reserve pool and proclaimed 1,754 new positions. Therefore, no one is going to lose their job. In any case, whatever decision we take, jobs are not at risk," Georgiadis said.

Referring to the National Organisation for the Provision of Healthcare Services (EOPYY), the minister said that its successes should not be overlooked, chiefly the fact that it had succeeded in offering better services to the insured at much smaller cost. Regarding the problems that remained to be addressed, he noted that EOPYY continued to have a substantial deficit.

"One the one hand, we have not been able to control spending caused by induced demand, especially by the private sector - and here there is a problem and perhaps also corruption. There is a second problem, since polyclinics often overlap and there is a spreading of forces and therefore cost. And there is a third problem because its revenues fall with increasing recession and unemployment," the minister said.

Georgiadis stressed that EOPYY can not continue to operate in the same way and that there were two options under consideration concerning polyclinics: "We will either continue to have EOPYY as a provider and therefore find a way to operate its polyclinics properly and contribute to a reduction of cost, pulling people inside again, or we will transfer them to the National Health System, the public sector," he said, adding that a report on the issue was due to be delivered by the end of the month and a final decision will be taken in October.

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