Government’s promises for countermeasures a dead letter

Parliamentary report says they clash with Greek constitution

The incorporation of a set of measures by the Greek government in the 4th harsh memorandum in an effort to counterbalance the tough austerity provisions in the omnibus bill is a dead letter, as a parliamentary report reveals. In its findings the report stresses that the proposed countermeasures that would theoretically assuage the effects of the tax coefficients for persons, businesses and the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) would be ineffectual in practice, as the specific clauses contravene the Greek constitution. This would mean that even in the event the 3.5% primary surplus fiscal target was reached Greece in 2018 and 2019 the specific countermeasures would not be automatically activated. The authors of the report focus on articles 11 thru 4 and 15 of the law claiming they clash with Article 78, par. 4 of the Constitution. Amid widespread clashes in Athens and a nationwide strike by all the unions, the Greek government is debating the 4th memorandum in parliament which provides among other things the liberalisation of mass layoffs, despite the attempt by Labour Minister Efi Achtsiouglou to prove the contrary.