EMIN Context Report GREECE Developments in relation to Minimum Income Schemes Author: Dina Vardaramatou, Ioanna Pertsinidou March 2018
What is EMIN? The European Minimum Income Network (EMIN) is an informal Network of organisations and individuals committed to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to adequate, accessible and enabling Minimum Income Schemes. The organisations involved include the relevant public authorities, service providers, social partners, academics, policy makers at different levels, NGOs, and fosters the involvement of people who benefit or could benefit from minimum income support. EMIN is organised at EU and national levels, in all the Member States of the European Union and also in Iceland, Norway, Macedonia (FYROM) and Serbia. EMIN is coordinated by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN). More information on EMIN can be found at www.emin-eu.net. What is the Context Report? In 2014 individual Country Reports were produced under the EMIN project which outlined the state of development of Minimum Income Schemes in the country concerned. These reports also set out a road map for the progressive realisation of adequate Minimum Income Schemes in that country. These Country Reports can be found on www.emin-net.eu (EMIN Publications). This Context Report gives an update on developments in relation to Minimum Income Schemes in Greece since the publication of the Country Report. Acknowledgements: Author of Report: Ioanna Pertsinidou, Dina Vardaramatou For the period 2017-2018 EMIN receives financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation EaSI (2014-2020) to develop its work in the EU Member States and at EU level. For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi The information contained in this report does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission. 2
Definitions used in the EMIN Project Minimum Income Schemes are defined as, income support schemes which provide a safety net for those of working age, whether in or out of work, and who have insufficient means of financial support, and who are not eligible for insurance based social benefits or whose entitlements to these have expired. They are last resort schemes, which are intended to ensure a minimum standard of living for the concerned individuals and their dependents. EMIN aims at the progressive realisation of the right to adequate, accessible and enabling Minimum Income Schemes. Adequacy is defined as a level of income that is indispensable to live a life in dignity and to fully participate in society. Adequate Minimum Income Schemes are regularly uprated to take account of the evolution of the cost of living. Accessible is defined as providing comprehensive coverage for all people who need the schemes for as long as they need the support. Accessible Minimum Income Schemes have clearly defined criteria, they are non-contributory, universal and means-tested. They do not discriminate against any particular group and have straightforward application procedures. They avoid: - institutional barriers such as bureaucratic and complex regulations and procedures and have the minimum required conditionality, - implementation barriers by reaching out to and supporting potential beneficiaries personal barriers such as lack of information, shame or loss of privacy. Enabling is defined as schemes that promote people's empowerment and participation in society and facilitates their access to quality services and inclusive labour markets. 3
Contents Section 1: Evolution in laws and regulations regarding minimum income schemes... 5 Section 2: Use of reference budgets in relation to Minimum Income... 11 Section 3: Implementation of Country Specific Recommendations on Minimum Income and follow up through the Semester process... 13 Section 4: Political Developments impacting on the reference budgets in relation to Minimum Income... 15 Section 5: Developments in relation to the (Insert name of country) EMIN Network... 16 4
Section 1: Evolution in laws and regulations regarding national (or regional/local) minimum income schemes This section indicates changes to the main minimum income scheme in the country since the EMIN1 project ended in 2014, in particular changes to schemes that were dealt with in the EMIN1 project. In countries where several minimum income schemes coexist, please give priority to minimum income schemes for the working-age population. The country report from the EMIN 1 project is available at https://emin-eu.net/emin-publications/ Since last EMIN report there are certain changes that there were introduced in terms of legislation: Minimum Income has gone through two pilot phases in 2015 and 2016 respectively in different names: As Social Minimum Income in 2015 and in 13 prefectures and as Social Income of Solidarity (SSI) in 2016 and in 30 municipalities. Since 2017 it has been implemented at National Level (Join Ministerial Decision Γ.Δ. 5 ΟΙΚ 2961-10-National Gazette no Β 128/24/01/2017). According to the law, access is guaranteed to all legal residents, from 200 euros (single person) until 900 euros (for a family of more than 5 members). Analytically: Changes in the legislation and regulations governing minimum income schemes in Greece with regard to - Eligibility conditions Eligibility criteria are formulated in three major categories - Age - Housing status (hosted or living independently) - Income/Property/assets Based on these categories, eligible for the SSI in Greece are all adults (above 18 years old) that are residing legally in the state except those that are living in shelters (any kind of shelters, including those living at homeless shelters), prisoners and soldiers or those that are hosted by friends or relatives. The income should not exceed the cumulative amount that is provided by SSI for a period of six months. Assets owned, mobile or immobile should not exceed certain value as shown at the table below. 1. Income criterion 1a. The income of the household should not exceed the past six months the total expected income from the SSI in six months. The total amount of the income during the past six months should not exceed 5400 euros. In the table 1 below are given examples of income criterion for several household types: 5
Table 1: Cut-off income criterion for several household types source: https://www.taxheaven.gr/laws/circular/view/id/25473 Household type Income the past six months Single person household 1,200 Two adult household or single parented family with one child Two adult and one child household or a single parented family with two children 1,800 2,100 Three adult or two adult and two children or single parented family with three children 2,400 Three adult and one child or two adult and three children or single parented family with four children 2,700 Four adult or two adult and three children or single parented family with five children 3,000-1b. Property criterion The total tax-value property should not be over EUR 90,000 per person (increased by EUR 15,000 for each additional adult and EUR 10,000 for each dependent child). In any case, the maximum amount for the household should not be more than EUR 150,000. - Mobile property: The imputed value of motor vehicles owned (including cars, motorcycles, etc.) should not exceed EUR 6,000. - The total amount of income from liquid assets (bank deposits, bonds, shares etc. in Greece and abroad) of the member(s) of the household should, not exceed the limits described at the table 2 below: 6
Household type Bank deposit/shares/bonds limits Single person household 4,800 Two adult household or single parented family with one child 7,200 Two adult and one child household or a single parented family with two children 8,400 Three adult or two adult and two children or single parented family with three children 9,600 Three adult and one child or two adult and three children or single parented family with four children 10,800 Four adult or two adult and three children or single parented family with five children Four adults and one child or two adults and five children or single parented family and six children 12,000 13,200 Five adults or two adults and six children or single parented family with seven children 14,400 Beneficiaries are: a. Single person household: any adult living independently and who does not belong to the category up to 25 years old studying at University, or at Vocational Institutes or any other type of educational institution within Greece or abroad. b. Multi persons household: all the persons sharing the same roof. May include hosted single persons or families that have been stated as hosted in the last tax income statement. In this category are included also adults up to 25 years old that are studying regardless their physical residing address c. Homeless: persons that are sleeping roughly or are using night shelters or day centres services. d. Beneficiaries of the Housing and Reintegration programme that are not employed. 7
(Housing and Reintegration programme is implemented since September 2015 and it targets legally residing homeless persons, sleeping roughly or accommodated in shelters. It provides independent living conditions by covering all housing costs up to certain limits and support in the integration in the labor market by subsidizing all employment costs for a certain period. It started as a pilot programme funded by the 2014 surplus and it covered 1200 beneficiaries. Since 2017 the programme continued with the same funding but was not longer covering utility bills and food. It was then decided to integrate part of this programme into the SSI scheme). - Conditionality of the benefits (willingness to work, other conditions related to personnel attitude of recipients ) All recipients are obliged to submit tax income statement annually All recipients are agreeing to the anonymous use of their personal data by the electronic systems and platforms to further confirm the information and personal data submitted with their SSI application form. They are also agreeing to the use of their personal data anonymously to evaluate the SSI programme They are agreeing to home or other visits by the relevant personnel to further confirm their living conditions and situation. The parents of minors are obliged to place their children at the relevant school class Those over 45 years old and above that have not completed the obligatory educational system are obliged to register at the appropriate school unit to complete it. The eligible beneficiaries are obliged to state any change in their income, family status, protected members within 15 days this change has occurred by submitting an updated form. They are responsible to arrange monthly appointments with the Community Centres They are obliged to be registered at the Unemployment National Agency and to arrange regular meeting with the employment counsellors They should not deny any appropriate position or other vocational training offered. In the case that are already working then they should not resign from their work without a good reason. In case of no compliance with any of the above the SSI is suspended or interrupted and the beneficiaries are obliged to return all the money that they have received, if any, until then. In case of fraud there is additionally according to the relative law penal prosecution. - Levels of payment, uprating The amount that is provided by SSI is 200 euros for a single person without any other source of income, 100 euros additional for every adult member of the household and 50 euros per 8
child. Specifically for single parented families the elder child is considered adult for the calculation of the SSI amount. For the household where there are protected members each protected member is considered as an adult for the calculation of the SSI amount. The maximum amount provided is 900 euros if there is not any other income regardless the number of the household members. - Links with other benefits SSI beneficiaries are entitled upon their successful registration to the scheme to the following complementary social services and goods: - Free access to public health care system including treatment - Referral to other psychosocial services if necessary - Social pricing of electricity - Social pricing for water supply - Social pricing on taxes - Link with FEAD programme - Link with other antipoverty programmes If beneficiaries are able to work, and in order to support their integration into the labor market, they are also having a priority to participate in: - community work programmes - Vocational training programmes - Gaining working experience programmes - Registration in school units to complete or integrate in the existing educational system for adults Governance of the scheme The Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity and in particular the newly created Department of Fighting against Poverty with its agencies are responsible for the monitoring of the implementation and evaluation of the SSI scheme in Greece. The Electronic Governance of the Social Insurance (I.DI.K.A) is responsible for the electronic and technical aspects of the implementation of the scheme (application submission, cross checking electronically data, handling payments and/or suspension and interruptions). The Ministry of Labour is cooperating horizontally with the Ministry of Finance (State budget) and the Ministry of Interior (Municipalities are accepting applications and handling complains or doing further needs assessment and verification of the applicants living conditions. They are also responsible to provide the social support that is necessary to 9
ensure that the beneficiaries are accessing all what they are entitled to according to the law). Evolution with regard to adequacy of minimum income? According to the European Reference Budget Network published in 2016 the monthly budget required for a healthy diet in Greece is EUR 240 for a single person and EUR 791 for a family of two adults and two children. If the budget needed for physical activity and the other functions of food (eating out, holidays, etc.) is also taken into consideration, the total monthly food budget amounts to EUR 295 for a single person and EUR 919 for a family of two adults and two children. This amount refers only to the food basket and not on the cost of living that may include the housing costs (rent, utilities or mortgage) and the cost if to cover other aspects essential for a life in dignity apart from the fundamental food and house. The fact that there is a discrepancy between the earnings of those who are already employed does not leave space for any doubt on the inadequacy of the SSI scheme. In the same report is mentioned It is worth noting the discrepancy between the cost of the food basket and the earnings of the majority of Greeks. The minimum wage in Greece is currently EUR 683 before taxes, and wages have been falling since the onset of the crisis. Hence, a full time employee earning the minimum wage will have to spend 38% of their take home income on food consumption alone. Moreover, the proportion of people who cannot afford a meal including meat, chicken or fish every other day has almost doubled from 7.1% in 2008 to 13.2% in 2014. Thus the amount of the currently implemented SSI scheme is not adequate at any level given that the total amount for a single person to cover all its needs, including housing costs, food, utilities or other essential needs is up to 200 euros for a single person. Evolution in terms of coverage or take-up of benefits? The SSI in Greece is targeting those living in extreme poverty and specifically 700.000 people. Its total cost for one year was foreseen up to 900 million euros. Until October 2017 there were 282.901 eligible beneficiaries/households at the cost of 64.430.449,43 euros according to the payment order that was signed by the Minister of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity. The graph below provided by IDIKA is describing the take-up pace since the beginning of the implementation of the SSI scheme in Greece at National Level in February 2017. On the vertical axe is the number of the recipient households and the horizontal one is the date of following up. 10
Evolution with regards to the linkage between minimum income schemes, (inclusive) labour markets and (quality) services? (Title in Greek: Number of approved applications per week) The law in general terms is comprehensive and inclusive. However, the services described at the law are not actually provided because simply there are not adequate human or other resources at the municipality level to actually support all what is described. For e.g. Community Centres are still under development, there are not enough social workers to do home visits. National Agency does not have adequate employment counselors and so on. Section 2: Use of reference budgets in relation to Minimum Income and/or poverty measures Reference budgets or budget standards are priced baskets of goods and services that represent a given living standard in a country. In this section you will find information in relation the recent evolutions of the construction and use of reference budgets in Greece. Information is also given on the usefulness of these reference budgets for policy making or for awareness raising campaigns. For further information on Reference Budgets see: Storms, B., Goedemé, T., Van den Bosch, K., Penne, T., Schuerman, N., and Stockman, S., Review of current state of paly on reference budget practices at national, regional and local level, pilot project for the development of a common methodology on reference budgets in Europe, Brussels, European Commission, 2014 http://ec.europa.eu/social/blobservlet?docid=12544&langid=en 11
Recent initiatives to develop reference budgets or to adapt existing reference budgets? - For what purposes are they developed or used? By whom? Reference budgets in Greece have been developed by the Bank of Greece for research purposes only. Greece has also participated at the EU funded project European Reference Budget Network. (Professor Manos Matsaganis). The Bank of Greece has followed the prices on items that, according to EU standards, are considered basic goods (house, food, medical care, education, entertainment). It calculates the cost per month for a single person and a family of four members. However, due to fiscal constraints, the Stability Programme under which Greece currently is operating, the Reference Budgets have not been and still are not used to define the level of the MI in Greece. The SSI scheme in Greece is inadequate to cover basic needs and goods and it is currently targeting those in absolute poverty. It aims at reducing the gap amongst those that already living well below the poverty threshold and excluded. - What actors were involved in the construction? Were people experiencing poverty part of the process? Have focus groups been used? For the construction of the Reference Budget in Greece have been involved in different times the following actors: Bank of Greece Academia DG-Employment, Social Affairs and Social Inclusion through the European Reference Budget Network Programme. Focus groups have been used in 2012 and 2014 in Greece. People experiencing poverty have contributed to the reference budgets preparation in 2012 and in the construction of reference budgets in 2014. The procedures started in January (testing of focus groups), followed by focus groups discussions, collection of the prices (clothing, food, health and personal hygiene and for other baskets), calculation of the full budget and of the poverty line based on the reference budget. - How would you evaluate the development and/or current use of the reference budgets in your country? Are they useful tools for policy purposes? For public campaigning and awareness raising? Reference budgets are extremely useful as awareness and campaigning or lobbying tools because they are providing a realistic estimation of the actual cost of life in a certain moment in the country and the purchasing power of the SSI scheme. They also provide solid arguments on the existing gap between SSI and its adequacy in relation to the poverty 12
threshold. In Greece there is quite some space for improvement in the use of Reference Budgets in the advocacy and policy making processes. Section 3: Implementation of Country Specific Recommendations on Minimum Income and follow up through the Semester process. As part of the EU Semester process, a number of countries have received Country Specific Recommendations (CSR) on their MIS or more generally on poverty. Country Reports can give interesting indications for countries performance with regards to Minimum Income. Evidence can also be found in EAPN s assessment of National Reform Programmes 2016. In some countries under a Macroeconomic Adjustment Programme; the Memorandum of Understanding has reference to MI. In this section you find information about developments in response to these reports and recommendations as well as information on how EU funds are used to support developments in relation to Minimum Income Schemes. Policy responses to the CSR, initiatives to implement them and to improve the MIS, if there are new evolutions in this respect in your country. Other developments in relation to Minimum Income Schemes as part of the Semester Process, please add them here. As it is officially stated, at the EU Semester communication, there is no obligation for country report since macroeconomic balances are addressed by Stability Support Programme. (https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy- coordination/european-economy-explained/graphs-economic-topics/european-semester- 2017-macroeconomic-imbalances-and-government-deficits_en) However in the 3 rd MoU, that Greece signed on the 19 th of August 2015, it is clearly recommended: 2.5.3 Social safety nets The economic crisis has had an unprecedented impact on social welfare. The most pressing priority for the government is to provide immediate support to the most vulnerable to help alleviate the impact of the renewed downturn. Already, a package of measures on food, housing and access to health care has been adopted and is being implemented. In order to get people back to work, the authorities, working closely with European partners, have taken measures to boost employment by providing short-term work opportunities to 50.000 people targeting the long-term unemployed. The Government will adopt by March 2016 a further series of guaranteed employment support schemes covering 150,000 persons, including the long term unemployed (29+), young people (16-29), and disadvantaged groups (including inter alia GMI beneficiaries) with individualised active labour market measures for participants, using local partnerships, involving the private and social economy sectors and ensuring efficient and effective use of the resources available. A fairer society will require that Greece improves the design of its welfare system, so that there is a genuine social safety net which targets scarce resources at those in most need. 13
The authorities plan to benefit from available technical assistance for the social welfare review and for the GMI implementation from international organisations. i. The government commits as a prior action to agree the terms of reference and launch a comprehensive Social Welfare Review, including both cash and in-kind benefits, tax benefits, social security and other social benefits, across the general government, with the assistance of the World Bank, with first operational results to be completed by December 2015, targeted to generate savings of ½ percent of GDP annually which will serve as the basis for the redesign of a targeted welfare system, including the fiscally-neutral gradual national roll-out of the GMI. The overall design of the GMI will also be agreed with the institutions. ii. The Authorities by September 2015 will set out their detailed preparations for a gradual nationwide roll-out of a Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) scheme from 1 April 2016, including for the set up of a benefits registry and a strategy to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable groups and to avoid fraud. Close linkages with municipalities and employment services will be established. iii. By January 2016, the authorities will propose and legislate reforms to welfare benefits and decide on the benefit rates of the initial GMI rollout in agreement with the institutions. The design of the GMI will be closely based upon the parameters of the pilot schemes after the evaluation of the World Bank, with potential additional targeting of priority needs in the short-term in order to meet budgetary constraints. iv. By September 2016, the authorities will establish an institutional benefits framework to manage, monitor and control the GMI and other benefits. An evaluation of the performance of the GMI scheme will take place, with the objective of a full national rollout (key deliverable) by the end 2016. As it is already stated above the SSI scheme is currently implemented at national level. Additionally, according to the latest Report regarding the Monitoring the Implementation of the Social Pillar Greece is referred as an example in Good Practice: Good practice in the spirit of the Pillar in the Netherlands, a Ministerial Decree regarding the general duty to realize accessibility for persons with disabilities as provided for in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into force in June 2017. These provisions constitute an important step towards realising more general accessibility for persons with disabilities in addition to the duty to provide reasonable accommodation in individual cases. In Greece, a law was introduced in the Greek legal order in September 2017. The new legislation includes a series of reforms designed to promote the equal treatment of persons with disabilities, the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights, and to facilitate their lives and daily routine. In Portugal, in July 2017, the Portuguese Parliament passed a law, which sets up the legal regime of prevention, prohibition and fight against discrimination on the ground of race/ethnic origin, nationality, ancestry and territory of origin. The law repealed and updated the former legal regime of non-discrimination on the ground of race and ethnic origin. (p.19) Has EU funds being used to support developments in relation to Minimum Income Schemes? European Social Fund and other Structural Funds have been used to support antipoverty programmes such as the Day centers and Night Shelters for homeless that are currently used as an entry point for a significant portion of eligible beneficiaries. 14
EU co funded Programmes, that support employment and inclusion, are linked with the SSI scheme and the beneficiaries are automatically eligible to participate without further application or process. Beneficiaries are also automatically beneficiaries of FEAD programme. Section 4: Social and Political Environment and its impact on the fight against poverty and the evolution of Minimum Income Schemes In this section there is a brief sketch of the mood, the atmosphere that exists in relation to poverty, people living on minimum income, and the impact on some specific groups such as migrants, Roma/Travellers, growing nationalist sentiments etc. What kind of social and political environment exists within which the EMIN project will operate? Since the onset of the crisis there was political instability expressed in the difficulty of the formation of Government. Coalition governments had ruled the country without being able to fulfill a 4 year full term, a fact which would have enabled the formulation and execution of policies against poverty and towards social inclusion. Since September 2015, the coalition government (left-wing party of SYRIZA and far-right wing party of ANEL) have been implementing to the full all the measures within the austerity scheme. What is also evident is the rise of extra-wing groups which have shown a violent behaviour with hate speech and hate crime on their agenda. Golden Dawn, a legal party at the House of Parliament is currently under trial (since 2015) in order to examine whether this Greek neo-nazi party fits the definition of a criminal organisation. Lawyer Thanasis Kambayiannis, part of the civil action counsels says, According to the lawsuit, Golden Dawn is a criminal organisation in a political party s costume, under which commits all its crimes. The evidentiary procedures until today have shown that the violent battalions, the physical perpetrators that have been described by their victims and witnesses, were and are members of Golden Dawn. Part of mass media have presented a spectrum of propagandistic and populist activity and have explored the economic crisis to their convenience. Research has shown that this activity has favoured the rise of the extreme right wing groups in Greece and had misled the Greece people. Greece is under a Stability Programme since 2010. The burden of the economic adjustment has not been spread in a socially fair way between the different layers of society. The social reform measures have had a direct impact on the rapidly deteriorating social situation. The country has suffered the longest and deepest recession in its peaceful recent history. According to the latest figures and evaluations, the exodus from the Stability Programme is expected within 2018. However, it is necessary to take into consideration that the unemployment rate is still holding well above 20%, more than double from the average at 15
EU level, with massive youth unemployment. The actual living conditions are still marginal for the vast majority of the working force of the population with young and elder being the mostly affected. More than one third of the Greek population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion according to the latest data published in 2017. In the first two years of bailout agreements, the rates were below 30%, but they kept rising. In 2016 those living at risk of poverty reached 35.6% from 21.8% in 2008 (+7.5% points in 10 years). The impact of the austerity measures, along with the long standing recession and the increased influx of mobile populations-recipients of international protection, has resulted in the deep degradation of the already fragmented welfare system. As a result, the environment in which EMIN project is currently operating, is the environment where poverty and tolerance of marginal living conditions are the rule of thumb. Over the last years, there have been ad hoc networks and groups which have been working on the impacts of the crisis. Moreover, members of civil society which have been providing services have been active in supporting the recipients of benefits. Section 5: Developments in relation to the Greek EMIN Network In this section you provide information in relation to the state of development of your National EMIN Network. In particular describing social dialogue/partnership with public authorities and other stakeholders. Is there a formal or informal steering group for your National EMIN Network (who is involved)? Since we are new partners in the project, we are currently at the phase of reorganizing the Network. Have there been any contacts with potential partners that can help to build alliances for the improvement of the MIS in your country? We are currently in the process of contacting potential partners on that matter. Has any activity been organised with regards to MI? Communications or public awareness raising, since the completion of the EMIN1 project? We are currently in the process of organising relevant activities. 16