Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced yesterday that there will be no salary adjustments for deputies in the wake of questions on compared sectors’ salaries raised after an amendment was tabled calling for an increase in judges’ salaries and bonus and a pension increase for a specific number of former judges. This amendment comes after the cuts in salaries of judges was deemed unconstitutional on the principle of proportionality and the constitutional rule of equality.

If the amendment is passed, it will raise the base salaries for some judiciary officials – returning their salaries to pre-crisis levels. Specifically:

* judges at the county court or eirinodikeio, class 4, will see their salaries rise from 1,369 euros to 1,488 euros per month

* first-instance court judges are to have their salaries increased from 1,778 to 2,067 euros

* first-instance presiding judges will get an increase from 2,009 to 2,480 euros

* Supreme Court or Areios Pagios judges will see a hike from 2,525 euros per month to 3,307 euros

* Supreme Court Vice President from 2,880 to 3,721 euros

* Supreme Court President from 3,023 to 4,134 euros per month

There will also be a raise for professional journals and books worth 130-188 euros per month based on their grade and an increase in the bonus on seniority that can be as high as 60% of their base salary.

The pensions of nearly 2,500 judges will be readjusted as of August 1, 2012 to the date the bill is passed in Parliament.

The General Accounting Office of the Greek Finance Ministry reports that the adjustment of salaries of the judges as well as the retroactive payment of salaries and pensions will amount to 170 million euros. From this total amount, 49.4 million euros will be used for the adjustment of judges salaries to the levels they were before August 2012 while 20.16 million euros will be used for the adjustment of their pensions.

Other workers in Greece who are hard-hit by the recession and who have seen their salaries and pensions slashed are afraid that this decision will pave the way for an increase in parliamentary salaries. Government Spokeswoman Sophia Voultepsi reassured that the adjustment won’t apply to MPs.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice are expecting IMF officials to react negatively to this decision and ask for pressure to be placed on judges to make do with current salaries.