Mitsotakis: We can now grant main pensions within two months

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday spoke about an important achievement and a policy with a deep social impact regarding the clearing of a backlog of pending pension applications.

The prime minister, in his presentation at the labour ministry event, said that his choice in selecting Kostis Hatzidakis for the specific ministry had been fully justified and he congratulated the entire leadership of the ministry.

Mitsotakis stressed that this huge undertaking had "no ideological stamp" and led to three conclusions:

First, that the state can cooperate with the private sector for the faster implementation of public policies.

Secondly, that we cannot get anywhere without the use of technology;

Thirdly that changes can be made in the core operation of the state to produce better results.

The prime minister referred to the change in EFKA's operating model, underlining that these had brought about impressive results.

He noted that one in six main pensions at present had been issued in the last 22 months and Greece can now issue main pensions in just two months.

At the same time, he described the 1555 phone line as a "revolution", emphasising that this policy also had "no party or ideological colour".

Regarding the issue of pending pensions, he underlined that this was a policy with a deeply social footprint and wondered how the people had previously managed to survive for two to three years until their pensions came through.

"It is a policy with a fundamental social element of support for the weakest," he said, noting that in 2019 the situation the government had taken over was tragic.

Referring also to the problem of inflation, he said that it was imported, while adding that the labour ministry was substantially supporting pensioners, who can expect to see their pensions increase by more than 7% as of January 1, 2023, along with the abolition of the solidarity levy and an extraordinary allowance of 250 euros in December for those on low pensions.

It should be noted that in the last 21 months more than 470,000 pensions were issued and 85% of the applications for 2022 have already been processed.

EFKA now issues more than 1,250 pensions per day, while in 2019 this number did not exceed 500.