The GEETHA proceeded with the creation of an informal committee with the main objective of drawing up a new salary list for the Armed Forces and by extension for the Security Forces, in an attempt to integrate into the basic salary a series of allowances received by the officers of the army and at the same time the further financial support of the personnel who are on the front line of the country’s defense, carrying out difficult missions in adverse conditions.
The specific committee, after completing its work, will submit a relevant proposal to the military and political leadership of the Ministry of National Defense in order to, subsequently, be brought to the attention of the Ministry of Finance, which will have the final say.
Circles of the Ministry of the Interior, however, consider that the establishment of the committee in question may be an obstacle to the immediate settlement of financial issues that affect a significant number of executives of the Ministry of Defense, such as the granting of additional pay to the crews of the warships that are on mission. This is a long-standing request of the leadership of the Navy which for almost 8 months has been brought to the attention of the Chief of Defense Staff Nikos Panagiotopoulos, but has not, until now at least, been implemented as it meets the strong opposition of the Chief of Defense Staff Konstantinos Floros. The A/GEETHA has advocated the creation of a new payroll in the ED, which will settle the salaries of all military personnel in total and not piecemeal, as it considers.
It should be noted that about a month ago the Financial Directorate of the Ministry of National Defense committed 20 million euros, which were to be given as additional pay to the crews of the warships of the P.N. The commitment of the specific amount was made in the context of the conversion into action of the announcement made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis from the floor of the International Exhibition of Thessaloniki regarding the establishment of additional remuneration for the crews of warships on mission.
Implementing, following a relevant order, the specific announcement, the competent services of the Pentagon ended up examining two alternative ways in order to distribute the above amount to its beneficiaries. The first concerned the increase of “floatables” from 17 euros, net, on the day it is today, to around 50 euros. The second, wanted the specific amount to be paid as a salary bonus, which means that the executives serving on the ships of the Fleet would see a significant increase in their monthly salaries, which would start from 150 to 200 euros for the lower ranks and proportionally it would reach up to 450 euros for the rank of governor.
One of the additional reasons that the implementation of this announcement was characterized as immediate was that its implementation would work beneficially for the Fleet, stopping the wave of resignations affecting the Navy. “Due to Turkish provocation ships are at sea on combat duty more than 200 days a year. This means an additional burden on the fleet crews, who are required to carry out their mission in a hostile environment, away from their families and with little money, who can now find better working conditions by doing some work in dry”, say circles of the GEN.
It should be pointed out that from a TIF step the prime minister had proceeded to announce the settlement of three more demands of the Armed Forces, more specifically the salary evolution of the Long-Term Volunteers and Short Reassignment Soldiers, the extension of the 5-year combat period and the night compensation of the E.D. executives. Regarding the implementation of the specific Prime Minister’s announcements, however, there is an obstruction from the military and political leadership of the Pentagon, with the result that there is a climate of dissatisfaction both among the executives who benefit from them and in the Maximos Palace, given that while the relevant funds no direct effect is recorded.
At the same time, with regard to the salary list, circles of the Pentagon’s Financial Directorate report that the preparation of a new salary regime in the Armed Forces is an extremely time-consuming process with an undetermined final result as well as costs since relevant negotiations with the Ministry of Finance will also have to be preceded.
“The payroll of the E.D. is included among the Special Payrolls of the public sector. It was created in 2017 with the aim, on the one hand, of not losing a single euro from the payroll of the executives of the E.D. and on the other hand, to incorporate as many allowances as possible into the basic salary, in order to reduce their number to the absolutely necessary so that their existence does not catch the eye of our lenders, during the evaluation they made at regular intervals of the Greek economy.
Besides, the existing salary, as a special salary, has taken its final structure and form and therefore very few things can change”, the same circles point out, adding that it would be easier and more immediate to give a horizontal increase to his earnings staff through the already existing payroll, rather than a period of years passing until the implementation of a new payroll with an undetermined final result, which will directly depend on the then financial state of the public funds and the fiscal framework imposed by Brussels.
