Several creditor-mandated draft amendments were hurriedly tabled in Parliament by the government on Wednesday evening, including a provision for the faster privatization of Greece’s power transmission operator (ADMHE).
Other provisions foresee the immediate elimination of a monthly bonus, allocated to low-income pensioners, for roughly 80,000 beneficiaries. The first step towards the total abolition of the EKAS bonus, as it is known by its acronym, was achieved by retroactively changing income criteria, upwards, as of Jan. 1, 2016. The “gap” calculated from a decision not to retroactively deduct the bonus from the beginning of the year was now cited as 38 million euros for 2016.
As such, the government promised to cover the gap by a deeper cut in 2017 EKAS bonus payments.
The date for the full abolition of the bonus was now given as Jan. 1, 2020
In terms of the power sector privatization, a tabled amendment foresees a four-month period for an international tender to sell-off a strategic stake of ADMHE, instead of five months. Changes in the composition of the board of the entity and a tighter deadline for receiving bids and declaring a tender winner are also foreseen.
