ATHENS – In what political rivals said was a desperate bid to buy votes with an election year coming, the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition is planning a third year of holiday handouts, this one for 710 million euros ($808.22 million).
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, a Marxist economist forced into embarrassing surrenders teo the country’s international lenders and bankers, made the announcement of the so-called “social dividend,” to Parliament.
He also promised the government wouldn’t then turn around and confiscate the bonuses from people who owe money to the state they can’t pay because of more brutal austerity meaures ordered by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, breaking promises to help workers, pensioners and the poor while letting oligarchs, the rich, politicians, Parliament workers and tax cheats escape.
Tsakalotos said there will be income and asset criteria for being eligible for bonuses that had previously gone to lower-income pensioners whose benefits were slashed far more than the handouts, and to jobless youth Tsipras promised to put back to work but didn’t. Some handouts before had gone to people whose income shouldn’t have made them eligible.
The government, which includes the pro-austerity, marginal, jingoistic Independent Greeks (ANEL) of Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, said there’s enough money because of a larger-than-expected primary surplus not including interest on 326 billion euros ($371.1 billion) in three bailouts, the cost of running cities and towns, state enterprises, social security, some military expenditures and delaying or not paying those owed money by the state.
