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The working groups, which accredit state structures under the direct supervision of the Task Force, are proposing deep cuts in nearly half the positions in almost all ministries. This will result in the closure of entire directorates which will remain without employees.

According to information from "To Vima" newspaper, the surprise for the Task Force was enormous, when it was discovered that there are ministries with services that are “dead” in practice - and which have been created in order to keep the votes, known as “organizations-stamps” as well as some departments, the functions of which are absolutely unnecessary. Their immediate closure is now being proposed, as the working groups assure that this will affect neither the services provided to citizens, nor the work of ministries. The Task Force reminded that a similar bill, for the closure of 30% of the offices in the ministries, was approved by the previous Minister, Dimitris Reppas, but the parliament did not pass it.

By closing 50% of the structures enormous amounts will be saved - not only because expenditures for rent, utilities, consumables, etc. will be reduced, but also due to cost savings in salaries.

In other words, by next year, the public sector will be operating with a reduced-by-half managerial staff: directors, general managers, heads of departments, etc. Employees from the closed offices will be transferred to other sectors in the same ministry or to another state organization.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, this situation is a result of the decades of continuous expansion of the ministries’ structures. As an example it is stated that initially, the programmes, co-funded by the European Union, had mutual managerial offices. Since then, however, a new service has been created for each individual case, with its own manager. The OECD calls for closures of vacant positions. It is noted that out of 11,485 positions in the Ministry of Finance, 36% are vacant. Such vacancies are even more in number in the municipalities. In local government organizations vacancies reach 68.8%.

Yesterday, Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras introduced an amendment in Parliament, by which public sector appointments of ministers and their deputies’ relatives and relatives of spouses, will be limited. According to current legislation, ministers and their deputies can appoint replacement employees, advisors and contributors for their political offices.

Another amendment completes the institutional supervisory framework of the companies from the banking sector, regarding the remuneration policy which is now applicable for their executives. This initiative began in 2009 after a request by U.S. President Barack Obama during the G20 summit, when the implementation of remuneration restrictions and specific rules for banking stability was agreed.

The European Commission took the first step in this direction, with the adoption of Directive 2010/76, which is mandatory. It ensures the control over salaries and pensions, both for banks and investment firms at executive level, and by the supervisors, i.e. the National Bank of Greece and the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, as well as the European banking authorities.

In this way, definite rules are set for the notorious bonuses, depending on the long-term profitability of the institutions, and they will not be at the expense of investors and depositors.