The trap of pre-election handouts

I heard the Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis say that, nowadays, with the approximately 1,500 services offered by the state through digital platforms, there has been a huge increase in the electronic transactions of citizens. From 8.8 million in 2018, they exceeded 1 billion in the first 10 months of 2022! Each citizen has been spared dozens of hours waiting in queues, while the burden on civil servants was significantly reduced.

One would expect that these tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of man-hours gained by civil servants in the departments that have been digitized would lead to the transfer of some employees to other services that have not yet been modernized, and that there would also be a reduction in the hiring of new civil servants.

Instead, we see that the Ministry of the Interior is proceeding with the announcement of 5,124 new state sector jobs through the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), when more than 565,000 civil servants already work in the core public sector. Obviously hospitals may need more nurses, while the “Help at Home” program (which provides assistance to disabled and elderly people), nurseries and social welfare services are certainly understaffed and hirings may be needed after 10 years of bailouts. But I hope that the government does not start hiring drivers, ushers and storekeepers at ministries to satisfy its pre-election needs.

We need to forget about securing jobs for ‘our own people’ and reduce with bold interventions those state jobs that are now obsolete due to the progress of technology

I say all this because the modernization of the state we all believe in requires leaving behind old party habits. We need to forget about securing jobs for “our own people” and reduce with bold interventions those state jobs that are now obsolete due to the progress of technology. We also need to cut those imaginative benefits that existed ever since the restoration of democracy in Greece. From the infamous “car warming” and “hand washing” allowances, to the “envelope carrying allowance,” the “early arrival allowance” or the now obsolete “fax allowance.”

I must note here that – contrary to what we expected – political patronage has been revived in this pre-election period. And I am not talking about the abolition of the fines that had not been paid by unvaccinated elderly people, which is a small expenditure of a few thousand euros. I am talking about the one-time handout of 600 euros to the 62,000 uniformed men and women announced during the prime minister’s tour in Tripoli (at a cost of about 37 million euros), the legalization of illegal buildings in forests and on coasts, the extension of the right to rebuild outside municipal zoning areas, the extension of the right to occupy public spaces with tables and chairs, etc.

You might say that these are perennial problems of our political system that are difficult to eradicate in a society that is used to and expects handouts before the elections, no matter which party is in power. Let’s remember that in 2014 SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras had promised huge and unachievable – midway through the third bailout – handouts amounting to several billion euros three and a half months before the elections, such as the abolition of the ENFIA property tax, the raising of the tax-free income ceiling to 12,000 euros, a minimum wage of 751 euros, free electricity for 300,000 households, a holiday bonus for pensioners, etc.

But Greece is now trying to turn a page. It is 360 billion euros in debt and it wants to reach investment grade in 2023, which will bring a tsunami of foreign investments. For these reasons, its every move is being watched by international markets and ratings agencies, whose evaluation its future steps depend on. If the government gives the impression that it has a penchant for fiscal irresponsibility, then we are going to be in trouble. And if something happens to the economy, there are few who will rush to support us again. The numerous sacrifices the Greeks made during the 10 years of harsh austerity must be constantly on everyone’s mind.