Dombrovskis tells Katrougalos: We’ll give you 5.9 mln euros to deal with migration crisis

Author: newsroom  | Published: October 27, 2015

V. Dombrovskis talks about meeting with Greek Labor Minister and stresses the “need for a timely first review to ensure the restoration of financial stability” in Greece

European Commission President Valdis Dombrovskis met with Labor Minister George Katrougalos on Tuesday. Their meeting touched on various issues concerning income, pension rates as well as migration. At the end, Dombrovskis made a statement:

Honourable Minister Katrougalos, Honourable media representatives,

We just had a very good and productive meeting with the Minister to discuss the social and employment developments in Greece and also the efforts which are needed in the social and employment fields to make the social system fairer, but at the same time sustainable. It is also necessary to ensure that there is a labour market which is conducive to jobs creation and which facilitates economic growth in Greece.

Our discussions today touched upon several areas. These included issues related to the work on pension system reform in order to ensure long-term sustainability of the pensions system. We touched upon issues related to the labour market where work is on-going with the assistance of experts from international labour organisations and with the aim to use best practices from other European countries. Labour market in Greece should provide the necessary security for employees at the same time as being flexible and conducive towards jobs creation in Greece.

We touched upon the work of the Greek authorities as regards setting up the system of guaranteed minimum income, which aims to help those people with the lowest income. We also touched upon issues related to the migration crisis which is, amongst other things, a serious humanitarian crisis and serious challenge for the Greek authorities. From that point of view I would like to announce the decision taken by the European Commission today to provide additional EUR 5.9 million of emergency assistance to Greece for dealing with the migration crisis.

We briefly touched upon the broader issue of the ESM programme for Greece and the need for a timely first review to ensure the restoration of financial stability in Greece and with this facilitating the return of Greece to economic growth and, correspondingly, job creation.

Thank you.