Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis began his traditional Sunday review with the social agreement to strengthen Collective Labor Agreements, emphasizing that: “Greater flexibility in extending collective labor agreements to cover more sectors and workers establishes unified rules in the labor market, offers more security and higher incomes for workers, as well as stability for employers.”
Full statement by Kyriakos Mitsotakis
We’re now counting down to Christmas, and with the end of November, another intense month of work concludes. We’re gradually entering a more festive period, but our work doesn’t stop.
So, what happened this week?
We had a truly historic social agreement to strengthen Collective Labor Agreements, an agreement signed after 7 months of intensive negotiations between the government and national social partners. This is happening for the first time in Greece and was achieved by a center-right government. How did we get here? In recent years, Greece has achieved the largest unemployment reduction in Europe, with 500,000 new jobs created. We increased the minimum wage from €650 to €880 and the average wage by 28%. We established and implemented a longstanding demand of GSEE, the digital work card, transformed the Labor Inspectorate into an Independent Authority, exponentially increasing inspections, legally enshrined annual wage increases with a special formula, ensuring the growth dividend that all workers should receive. With these foundations, we’re now taking the next step: extending collective agreements to cover a larger portion of the market – something that is a European standard, but where Greece has chronically lagged. Greater flexibility in extending collective labor agreements to cover more sectors and workers establishes unified rules in the labor market, offers more security and higher incomes for workers, as well as stability for employers. This is why this historic agreement between employers and workers is significant, along with appropriate safeguards that will protect both workers’ incomes and the resilience of small and medium enterprises, ensuring wage increases are within their capabilities and driven by increased turnover, profitability, and productivity. I want to thank and congratulate the social partners for their mature stance.
This was also a week of payments, with significant support reaching millions of our fellow citizens. For the first time in our country, the permanent rent refund of up to €800 for nearly 900,000 households for 2024 began on Friday. Moreover, if a family rents their primary residence and has one or more children studying in another city, they will receive a supplementary refund for student housing. The measure is permanent and payments will be made every November – provided income and property criteria are met – without requiring an application. This was preceded on Monday by the permanent €250 support payment to 1.2 million e-Efka pensioners and from Thursday to uninsured elderly, disability benefit recipients, and OPEKA beneficiaries.
We have also managed, by the end of November as we had committed, to provide the advance payment of basic support for our farmers. This year’s payments from OPEKEPE, the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food, and the Ministry of Finance will total €3.7 billion. Specifically from OPEKEPE, €3.3 billion will be paid in 2025 compared to €2.7 billion in 2024, meaning €600 million more. By November 26, €1.9 billion had been paid. From Friday, November 28, the advance payment of basic support (€363 million), payments from the Rural Development Program (€119 million) began, and in the immediate period compensation for foot-and-mouth disease (€56 million) will be paid. By year-end, another €1.2 billion will be paid. Therefore, December will be a month of substantial support for the agricultural sector.
Why is this year’s basic support advance reduced compared to last year? The advance is indeed temporarily smaller by 25% compared to last year (€363 million this year / €476 million last year) mainly because fewer declarations were submitted and deficiencies were also found in data submitted by approximately 44,000 farmers for whom verification will be conducted in the immediate period. However, the country will not lose a single euro from the remaining resources. After the basic support, linked support, equalizing compensations, and ecological schemes are paid, a “second distribution” will follow for genuine farmers who will receive higher support than previous years. The goal is for subsidies to go to real producers for real production and to stop “paper farming” and fictitious leases.
The new system ensures triple benefits for farmers and the country. First, it establishes and implements a reliable and transparent system for managing and controlling agricultural subsidies, fully compliant with European regulations, so we won’t have new payment complications or new penalties for the country. Second, the new system distributes agricultural subsidies fairly, both in 2025 with the transitional system implementation and from 2026 onward with the final plan. Subsidies will be distributed based on real, indisputable data from each farmer and livestock breeder. This means honest farmers and livestock breeders will already receive larger subsidies this year. Third, it ensures that not a single euro will be lost from the EU funds allocated to the country. The funds that were budgeted will be distributed in total.
Changing topics entirely now. An additional 6,083 children will be able to be accommodated in nurseries and kindergartens during 2025-2026 with the increase in income limits, correcting an injustice that mainly left out large families. Essentially, the vast majority of applications submitted during the second call were accepted, giving parents the opportunity to better combine their family and professional lives, while their children participate in preschool education and creative activities structures.
Something else concerning family support, maternity, and equal parenthood. It was legally clarified by the Public Employment Service that mothers who pay contributions as non-employees, regardless of the legal form through which they exercise their professional activity, are entitled to the Special Maternity Protection Benefit. A measure that is obvious, but needed clear regulation so no woman is left out. We want more women in the labor market. This is already happening, which is why within our demographic strategy framework, we try to address the problem in all its aspects.
Another major reform by our government concerns Inheritance Law, adapting related legislation to modern social and family needs, with deep cuts in property regulation after death. The changes were more than necessary, considering that the 326 articles existed since 1946(!) and obviously couldn’t cover social needs in the third decade of the 21st century. The new Inheritance Law substantially protects heirs, introduces inheritance contracts, enables digital wills, and establishes stricter measures against forgeries. Among the most significant changes is that heirs will no longer be forced to renounce inheritance to avoid shouldering the deceased’s debts, as these will be paid exclusively from the inheritance itself. Also, the legal share increases for spouses protected in consensual divorce cases, while for the first time there’s provision for partners in free unions. The Ministry of Justice bill approved by the recent Cabinet will soon be put to consultation and is expected to make Inheritance Law more functional for citizens and legal professionals, more modern and fairer.
This week also saw the passage of a significant reform by the Development Ministry, aimed at more effective consumer protection from abusive practices in product and service markets. With the establishment of the new independent Consumer Protection Authority, DIMEA, the Consumer Ombudsman, and relevant Commerce General Secretariat directorates are concentrated in one unified organization, while we equip it with 300 new inspectors and modern digital tools, including artificial intelligence applications, for faster and more effective market supervision. This enhances transparency and creates a strong, unified, and truly independent control mechanism, modeled after AADE. The new Authority will have a Director and three Deputy Directors with five-year terms and corresponding independence guarantees. We’ve already tested this model in the Labor Inspectorate three years ago, and it’s proven in practice that institutional protection and operational independence lead to more and better-targeted inspections, benefiting citizens.
I continue with the comprehensive information system for Forensic Medical Services, another “innovation” for Greek standards, which will contribute to faster issuance of forensic reports with corresponding acceleration of criminal proceedings. Until now, due to old and time-consuming procedures, a forensic report could be delayed for up to three years. This resulted in serious cases not progressing timely, creating injustices and overall a poor image for the services themselves. So what are we doing now: digitizing. The forensic doctor and all involved will have a unified way of recording every element, from texts and photos to files of each case. All this material will be collected in a digital folder, with complete personal data security. The forensic doctor can now refer to a continuously enriched database, compare cases, and with artificial intelligence assistance form conclusions, which has catalytic significance for very serious cases, like the Tempi tragedy, child abuse cases, domestic violence, where time, accuracy, and scientific documentation are critical. The information system was developed by the University of Piraeus, the first forensic act using AI has already been performed, and constitutes another digital tool that will simplify procedures, reduce workload, and allow judges to focus on the qualitative core of cases.
Last year at this time, Thessaloniki experienced a moment it had waited decades for: the Metro’s arrival. A project that – as expected – would change daily commuting for residents and visitors in our country’s second-largest metropolitan center. And indeed it changed it. As if it had always existed, it was incredibly quickly integrated into daily life. And with a unique feature, the open archaeological site at Venizelos station. From last December to this October, an average of 2.4 million boardings occurred monthly, totaling 27.04 million passengers in 11 months. The vast majority of routes were on time, and any delays were less than 10 minutes 8 out of 10 times. Metro operation was suspended from early November for a month for test runs on the Kalamaria line, now entering the final stretch for public release. The Metro will return normally during the holiday period so market traffic isn’t affected and people can move more easily during the festive days. Simultaneously, planning for the Thessaloniki Western Suburban Railway progresses. The Infrastructure and Transport Ministry aims to tender the €16 million project before end-2025 to begin implementation from the new year. Until then, routes from the New Railway Station to Sindos were enhanced with an additional line, providing 11-minute access to the International University of Greece and industrial facilities in the broader area.
Fair play gains even greater value when overcoming physical obstacles. This is what our athletes did at the Deaflympics in Tokyo, making us proud. The Greek delegation returns with one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Congratulations to Pavlos Liotsos, Nikos Iosifidis, Alexandra Giallourou, and the men’s basketball national team – and their coaches of course – for their achievements. However, the State doesn’t stop at congratulations. Prize payments have already begun for athletes and coaches with exceptional international competitive distinctions in individual sports or team sports in 2022 and 2023 (Summer and Winter Olympics, Paralympics, Deaflympics, and World Transplant Games). The financial rewards total approximately €5 million, distributed to 167 athletes and 78 coaches for 252 exceptional international competitive distinctions that honored the country.
This was our week. Much was accomplished, much began, some progressed, and some reminded us that a week has only seven days. Let’s go for the next one. Have a good day!
