The government on Tuesday attempted to deflect spirited criticism of a draft bill it submitted to Parliament this week on third memorandum-mandated pension reforms, speaking before a relevant committee of MPs.
Labor Minister Giorgos Katrougalos, a prominent attorney who represented unions and public sector workers’ groups before being elected to Parliament and appointed as minister in the leftist SYRIZA government, charged that most social partners and labor groups in the country demanded its withdrawal out of hand, without any dialogue on specific issues.
He also claimed that self-employed professionals (lawyers, doctors, civil engineers etc.) making under 20,000 euros year “will benefit”.
“I am a class apostate, (as) I do not defend those with an income of 50,000 euros a year. Self-employed professionals and farmers are social dispersed; the interests of the attorney who works with a receipt book are different from the owner of a law office, who is not an attorney but a businessman,” he opined.
He also put the blame for pension funds’ deficits a specific four-year period, 2010 to 2014, and pointed at the New Democracy and PASOK parties.
