The Union of Judges and Prosecutors has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Finance’s refusal to meet with a delegation from the Union in order to submit a request for the reinstatement of the 13th and 14th salaries (Christmas and Easter bonuses and summer leave allowance) for public sector employees and retirees.

It is recalled that on June 6, 2025, the Plenary Session of the Council of State will discuss whether the payment of the 13th and 14th salaries should be reinstated for employees in the public and wider public sector, which were cut under the austerity laws.

Specifically, the announcement by the Union reads:

“For the past seven months, the Union of Judges and Prosecutors has persistently requested a meeting with the Ministry of Finance in order to submit the request for the reinstatement of holiday bonuses for public sector employees and retirees. We have shown great patience. Our request remains pending and unanswered.

The Ministry refuses to receive us. This is an unprecedented sign of disrespect during a period of intense public skepticism toward institutions.

Dozens of meetings have taken place between the Union and professional groups. Joint events with ADEDY (the civil servants’ federation) have been held throughout Greece. At all these events, the Government has been absent. Other political parties have gradually accepted the legitimacy of the demand and submitted related proposals in Parliament. Workers and retirees are not beggars, nor are they asking for handouts. These bonuses essentially represent part of their unpaid labor throughout the year. They have a history of over a century and were paid even under the most extreme poverty conditions. The Greek State, using the economic crisis of the 2010s as a pretext, suspended their payment. This suspension has now effectively become a permanent abolition.

The argument of lacking fiscal space is easily dismantled by official Eurostat data, which show a 7.7% increase in real per capita GDP in Greece over the past four years – more than double the EU average of 3.3% and triple that of the Eurozone (2.3%).

The Greek economy is growing at a rate of 2.5%, roughly three times faster than the rest of the Eurozone. The 2024 budget surplus is significantly higher than initially forecast.

It is therefore a political choice – not an inability – that the deprivation of wages and pensions for rightful beneficiaries continues.

It is furthermore outrageous that the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr. Stournaras, claimed that the reinstatement of bonuses would deprive the poor of funds, when in the very Bank he governs, bonuses are still regularly paid, while public sector employees and retirees are already near the poverty line.

It is insulting to label the zero wage increases in the public sector as ‘bonuses’ when they do not even minimally offset the enormous inflationary increases. Today, public sector workers and retirees in Greece are experiencing the greatest injustice, as in all other European countries that were hit by the economic crisis, wages and pensions have been fully restored to pre-2010 levels.

No matter how much state indifference we encounter, no matter how difficult the conditions in which we fight, we will continue to struggle to correct a social injustice, to awaken an important historical achievement from its slumber, and to return to workers and retirees what they are rightfully owed.”