Court adds to pressure on police, army wages

The government could soon come under further pressure to restore the wages of members of the emergency services and armed forces as a panel of judges at the Council of State is looking into the coalition’s failure to abide by a court ruling last year ordering it to reverse the 2012 reductions.

Kathimerini understands that it is the first time a law passed in 2002 is being applied. The legislation states that the state can be fined if it fails to adopt court rulings. A special committee has already been formed at the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, to examine the possibility of financial penalties for the Finance Ministry.

The coalition has so far been reluctant to restore the civil servants’ wages because doing so would cost it around 500 million euros. Instead, the ministry has sought to buy some time while it finds ways to make the equivalent savings needed so fiscal targets are not missed.

“We cannot restore wages to 2012 levels in one go,” said Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Saturday, citing budget concerns. But he promised that there would be “significant” increases to the wages of members of the emergency services and armed forces very soon.