REFORMS

Vague Car Benefits (part 2)

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mp-cars
Cars of Members of the Greek Parliament

A few days ago, we spotted a prospect KOLOTOUMBA regarding car benefits for members of the Greek Parliament.  As our dedicated readers (all 5 of them) remember, reducing such fringe benefits is part of the Greek Government’s reform proposals:

Excerpt from the REFORM list of 20/2/15:

Reduce (a) the number of Ministries (from 16 to 10), (b) the number of ‘special advisors’ in general government; and (c) fringe benefits of ministers, Members of Parliament and top officials (e.g. cars, travel expenses, allowances)

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was furious on hearing that members of SYRIZA were considering holding on to their car benefits on the excuse that said cars were on a lease which was already signed for by the previous parliament body.

Alexis Tsipras (1/3/15): “I was very embarrassed to hear that there are several SYRIZA MPs that claim that they cannot afford to spare 300-400 Euros for cars on a 6,000-euro salary. We should not be like the others“

Source: http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/193860/astrapse-kai-vrontixe-o-tsipras-gia-ta-voyleytika-aytokinita-aystires-systaseis-pros

Outcome (10 March 2015): From the 149 SYRIZA MPs and the 13 ANEL MPs (the minority government coalition party), only three (3) SYRIZA MPs refused to exercise their right to have a parliamentary car.

It seems that 159 MPs are indeed “like the OTHERS“.

PS. To their credit, 5 MPs from the POTAMI party and 1 MP from the NEW DEMOCRACY party, also refused to receive a car.

The 9 MPs are:

From SYRIZA: Giorgos Dimaras, Eleni Psarea, Mustafa Mustafa, from NEW DEMOCRACY Giorgos Koumoutsakos and from the POTAMI Stavros Theodorakis (party leader), Stavroula Antonakou, Giorgos Amiras, Panagiotis Karkatsoulis and Antigoni Liberaki

Source: http://www.protothema.gr/politics/article/458124/theodorakis-koumoutsakos-kai-alloi-exi-vouleutes-eipan-ohi-sta-vouleutika-autokinita/

Vague Car Benefits (part 2)

Vague Car Benefits

kolotoumba, , 1 Comment

 

mp-cars
Cars of Members of the Greek Parliament

8 Feb 2015: PM Alexis Tsipras during his inaugural parliamentary speech on budget costs, asked the Greek Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou to investigate the possibility of removing the car benefits from members of the Parliament on the grounds that MPs have the financial ability to commute on their own expenses.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/08/greece-prime-minister-alexis-tsipras-unveil-anti-austerity-plan-parliament

24 Feb 2015: Following the EUROGROUP agreement for a loan/program extension, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis drafted his REFORM AGENDA and under “Public administration & corruption” he proposed to:

Reduce (a) the number of Ministries (from 16 to 10), (b) the number of ‘special advisors’ in general government; and (c) fringe benefits of ministers, Members of Parliament and top officials (e.g. cars, travel expenses, allowances)

(Likely) Outcome: 26 Feb 2015 – Parliament President Zoe Konstantopoulou held a private session with the assembly of SYRIZA’s (main political party in the Greek Government coalition) Members of Parliament during which many MPs stated that they could not afford transportation expenses from Athens to their constituencies. It is expected that MPs shall continue to use the 300 cars leased by the previous parliemantary body (which was disolved in December 2014 upon its inability to elect a President of the Hellenic Republic). The lease agreement expires on 31 December 2015.

This morning, Yanis Varoufakis, during an interview, claimed that the REFORM AGENDA was deliberately “vague“.

“We are proud of the level of vagueness” in the agreement signed with EUROZONE finance ministers this week, Varoufakis told Antenna TV.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20150227-greeces-varoufakis-says-eu-deal-fig-leaf/

KOLOTOUMBA.com wanted to remove the vagueness out of the car fringe benefits and did a little research to discover that the cost per car per month per member of the Parliament is EUR 1,500 bringing up the annual expense to EUR 5.4 Million.

So much for VAGUENESS!

Source: http://www.kathimerini.gr/803746/article/epikairothta/ellada/kratika-aytokinhta-enenhnta-xronia-amartias

Vague Car Benefits

One promise gone per day

kolotoumba, , , 1 Comment

 

2015-02-25 vima article
They forget one every day

Vassilis Chiotis, of newspaper and radio station TO VIMA, consolidated a list of 29 “abandoned promises” made by SYRIZA during its campaign that led to a 35% win in the Greek January 2015 elections.

Source: http://www.tovima.gr/opinions/article/?aid=680054

We provide the English translation of the “Chiotis List” with some KOLOTOUMBA (KT) comments for clarity.

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One promise gone per day

Reformed Government Reform

kolotoumba, , 4 Comments

 

WOW.

Greece’s Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis released the proposed “first comprehensive list of reform measures [the Greek Government] is envisaging”. This list has been submitted to the EUROGROUP for assessment and further processing.

GREEK GVT REFORM AGENDA-INTRO.24.02.15.pdf

It is well structured although it is more of a policy manifesto than a “technical” document for financial ministers (the EUROGROUP members) to financially assess.  Before approved as final, this document needs to be reviewed by the EU, IMF and the ECB (formerly known as TROIKA, currently referred to as “the Institutions” as well as the 19 Eurozone Governments.

Continue reading “Reformed Government Reform” →

Reformed Government Reform