Niki Kerameus has issued a sharp response to the Greek Left Alliance (EL.A.S.) over the widows’ pensions controversy. “The announcement by the Greek Left Alliance (EL.A.S.) and Mr. Tsipras is a monument to political audacity!”, the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Niki Kerameus, wrote in a social media post, firing back at the EL.A.S. labour affairs division’s statement regarding the government’s widows’ pension reform.
“Mr. Tsipras, who together with Mr. Katrougalos slashed thousands of widows’ pensions, causing an unprecedented social injustice, now has the nerve to criticise the New Democracy government for supposedly… not making the reform that restores them broad enough! Behind the camouflage of his new party, it is clear that Mr. Tsipras remains unrepentantly brazen and populist,” Kerameus stated.
Read also: EL.A.S.: “The so-called restoration of widows’ pensions is a mockery and a deception”
EL.A.S.’s statement on widows’ pensions
Earlier, EL.A.S. released a statement saying: “The triumphant celebrations and the misleading claims collapse under the weight of reality. The ‘thousands of pensioners’ who will supposedly see their pensions rise from 35% to 70% turn out to be just 8,552,” while also noting that “the law passed by the New Democracy government excludes the 100,000-plus widows’ pensioners who retired before 13 May 2016, who will not see a single euro increase.” Furthermore, “those who do receive the much-lauded ‘restoration’ of widows’ pensions are not being paid the backdated amounts they are entitled to, in an obvious violation of the principle of equal treatment.”
In addition, EL.A.S. criticised the government for failing to address “the great injustice suffered by widows’ pensioners of the OGA (Agricultural Insurance Organisation),” pointing out that “the new law does not cover supplementary widows’ pensions, which remain reduced.”
“Mr. Mitsotakis took 100 and is giving 1 back to pensioners,” EL.A.S. commented, concluding: “Pensioners deserve dignity and truth, not mockery and deception. On 2 September, pensioners and the Greek people will hear a comprehensive proposal for exiting the ‘Mitsotakis crisis’ that will guarantee a life lived with dignity.”
