Cabinet meeting approves staffing changes in ministries

The meeting of the Administration Reforms Council focused on the restructuring of ministries and agencies and on the mobility scheme that will see some civil servants transferred to cover needs elswhere and others placed on a gradual layoff programme.

“We ratified the relevant decisions,” Mitsotakis said, “in order for the country to keep its timelines and place on mobility 12,500 civil servants by the end

of September.” He added that mobility is an obligation Greece has but will also lead to improved use of existing staff and added that in the first phase of the plan already carried out, all civil servants were transferred to services that were short-staffed.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, was also attended by government Vice President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and several ministers whose ministries’ restructuring was under review.

Among issues decided on was the approval of revised organisational charts for ministries that were split (Development and Competitiveness from Infrastructure and Transport & Networks and Culture & Sports from and Education & Religion) and organisational improvements in the ministries of the Environment, Agriculture and Interior.

Updated staffing plans were approved for the ministries of Finance; National Defence; Development & Competitiveness; Infrastructure, Transport & Networks; Environment, Energy & Climate Change; Culture & Sports (except for the General Secretariat of Sports); Labour, Social Insurance & Welfare; Health; Agriculture; and Tourism.

All staffing plans also list the extraneous positions that may be abolished by joint ministerial decisions, as laid out by Article 90 of law 4172/2013.

Also approved at the meeting were the evaluation reports and staffing plans for insurance fund and social security agencies under the Labour Ministry (such as OAED, IKA, OAEE, OGA and ETEA) and the Health Ministry, as well as an action plan for the assessment of other agencies and legal entities under the jurisdiction of any ministry.

Source: AMNA