Greece and its international financers have agreed that civil servants over 60 and close to retirement will be made redundant, radio reports said Sunday.
Finance Minister Evagelos Venizelos has been in talks with international auditors from the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Commission, known as the troika, since Thursday.
The troika will evaluate whether Greece’s belt-tightening measures are enough to give the green light for the release of a sixth tranche of bailout loans totalling 8-billion-euros (10.7 billion dollars) under a 110-billion-euros bailout package to avert default.
A second bailout package worth 109-billion-euros, agreed on July 21, has yet to be finalized.
One of the conditions auditors have demanded is that Greece make 30,000 public sector personnel redundant by the end of the year.
Radio reports said government plans to place up to 23,000 older civil servants in reserve, meaning that they will be suspended with reduced pay by the end of the year.
Another 7,000 suspensions will come from the abolition or merger of about 150 state agencies, which international auditors have accused the government of stalling.
Negotiations are still underway Sunday with the debt inspectors regarding the draft 2012 budget, which will be finalized at a cabinet meeting, to be held later in the evening and tabled in parliament Monday.
(source: DPA)
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