Politicians on board with wage donations
There has been an overall positive response with regard to Monday’s proposal by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for his ministers, their deputies and MPs of the ruling New Democracy party to deposit half of their salaries for the next two months into a special state fund to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
The PM’s appeal was boosted further by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who made it known that she will be donating half her salary to the fund.
In a statement, Sakellaropoulou’s office said the president had decided to donate half her salary for the next two months “in view of the difficult financial circumstances in which the country finds itself due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
In making his appeal, Mitsotakis said that “as the government first mobilized with bold measures against the pandemic, so our country’s political world must stand at the forefront of solidarity.”
“We are all equal in the face of the health threat. But in the battle against it, everyone has to offer according to their own strengths. I am sure that the other parties will follow this course of action.”
For its part, main opposition SYRIZA tried to outdo the PM’s appeal, saying the measure should be mandatory and extend to all MPs, and should concern the next three months. In a statement, the leftist party said the measure should be “mandatory and not optional because employees who are losing half of their salaries by the decision of the government weren’t given an option.”
It further proposed that “this contribution should be extended to MEPs and those appointed to government posts as well as to legal entities within the public or wider public sector.” The Communist Party (KKE) called for a permanent reduction in the wages of all politicians.
