Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-03-03

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Draft bill for humanitarian crisis tabled in Parliament

[01] Draft bill for humanitarian crisis tabled in Parliament

The bill's first section includes provisions for "people in dire poverty", including the following:

- Households classified as being "in dire poverty" would be supplied with free electricity of 300 kW on a monthly basis, and will have the electricity reconnected if it has been cut. Their tax arrears will be settled through a contract between the Labour and Social Solidarity ministries. This expenditure will total 22.1 million euros.

- A rent bonus (70-220 euros per person) will be given to large families and to 30,000 families "living under conditions of dire poverty without a house of their own" for 2015, possibly extended to 2016. This amount will be tax-free and not liable to confiscation. This expenditure will total 40.5 million euros.

- A subsidy for food will be provided for people in poverty, through discount coupons or other electronic provisions; the total income of each person will be assessed for this subsidy. People who are exempt from filing taxes and the unemployed whose benefits have run out will have to personally report their income through a signed statement (ypefthyni dilosi). People receiving aid from the European assistance fund for the indigent and from regional business programmes are excluded.

The second part of the draft bill includes organisational issues of the government. For example, a general secretariat to fight corruption will be introduced under the State ministry; the secretariat will also supervise the two separate units of public admistration and public works supervisors/auditors and coordinate the activity of all corruption and financial crime units elsewhere such as at the finance ministry (SDOE), the police, ministries and health/welfare. These jobs will be staffed by moving civil servants to a total of 30 individuals for three years, with possibility of extension.

A general secretariat will be set up to help the government council of economic policy; it will be able to hire 15 consultants and have another 15 transferred from the public sector in general.

A third section extends coverage by the National Organisation for the Provision of Health Services (EOPYY) medical services to several categories of people, including the unemployed, farmers over a certain age, and workers at the shipyards in Skaramanga and others, until end-February 2016.

Other provisions allow for transferring military personnel health funds into private entities of the state, and extends the contracts for busing students to the 2014-2015 academic year, provided they were in effect on February 28.

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