“There is a unified special payroll that applies to both the Armed Forces and security forces,” said Grigoris Gerakarakos, President of the Panhellenic Federation of Police Officers (P.O.A.S.Y.), in an interview with Protothema.gr, adding, “A special payroll with exclusions is unacceptable.”

As early as last week—when reports about the Armed Forces’ salary increases first surfaced—police officers had sent a letter to both Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis and the Chief of the Hellenic Police, Lieutenant General Dimitrios Mallios, requesting a meeting on the matter. Following today’s official announcements, their strong opposition has been formalized in a statement, which not only outlines their grievances but also warns of impending protests.

Legal Basis for a Unified Payroll

In their statement, police officers cite Law 4472/2017, specifically Article 123, which establishes a single, special payroll system for “Armed Forces personnel and equivalent members of the Hellenic Police, the Fire Service, and the Coast Guard – Hellenic Coast Guard.”

Critical Questions Raised

As a result, they pose the following key questions:

• Do the government’s announcements today apply to all personnel in the Armed Forces and Security Forces?
• Will the planned salary increases be implemented exclusively for the Armed Forces, breaking the long-standing unified salary policy that has applied equally to military personnel, police officers, firefighters, and coast guard members?
• Has a political decision been made to create a separate payroll system for military personnel, spearheaded by the Minister of Defense? Or is this yet another case of misinformation regarding the scope of eligible beneficiaries?

If it is the latter, they remind officials that the recent recognition of the hazardous nature of uniformed service applies to all members of the Armed Forces and Security Forces, as stipulated by Law 5167/2024.

A Divisive and Unconstitutional Decision

“How is it possible that in December 2024, we were considered a single entity, yet by March 2025, we are suddenly divided into ‘patricians and plebeians’ with different pay scales? This divisive and irrational distinction is blatantly unconstitutional, violating the principle of equal treatment and contradicting multiple rulings by the Council of State regarding the nature of the special payroll system for uniformed personnel,” the Federation states.

Call for Mobilization

The statement concludes with a clear warning of upcoming protests:
“It is evident that, as Federations, we stand firmly against such maneuvers. We condemn them and warn those responsible not to proceed with legislative initiatives that exclude any part of the Armed Forces and Security Forces. We call on our members to remain on high alert for mobilizations in the immediate future if the government’s initiative remains as limited in scope as today’s announcements suggest. Otherwise, the upcoming Holy Week will unfortunately not only be ‘Great’ in a religious sense.”