A plenary session of Greece’s Council of State (CoS), the highest administrative court in the country, has reportedly upheld past government decisions to abolish two extra monthly payments for civil servants and a host of employees in the wider public sector.
The so-called “13th” and “14th” salaries – half a month’s salary paid before Easter every year, the other half with the annual summer vacation and another extra month’s salary allocated between Christmas and New Year’s – were axed during the first bailout memorandum. The 14-month annual salary regime existed in Greece for decades.
The ruling by the CoS, which was leaked by the press and not officially announced, overturns a previous CoS decision ruling that the abolition of the extra salaries was unconstitutional, issued in 2012 by a seven-member tribunal. The latest and final verdict is the product of a plenum of justices, achieved via a majority vote.
