Η Ελλάδα υπόσχεται να μην ανακαλέσει ιδιωτικοποιήσεις οι οποίες βρίσκονται σε εξέλιξη ή έχουν ολοκληρωθεί και να διασφαλίσει ότι όποιες δαπάνες γίνουν με στόχο την αντιμετώπιση της ανθρωπιστικής κρίσης δεν θα επηρεάσουν αρνητικά τον προϋπολογισμό της, αναφέρει το Reuters, επικαλούμενο το κείμενο της επιστολής του Έλληνα υπουργού Οικονομικών, Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη.
Η λίστα, σημειώνει το Reuters, σκοπεύει σε συμβιβασμούς σε θέματα όπως οι εργασιακές μεταρρυθμίσεις και οι κοινωνικές δαπάνες για να ικανοποιηθούν τόσο οι Ευρωπαίοι εταίροι όσοι και οι Έλληνες ψηφοφόροι, οι οποίοι εξέλεξαν την παρούσα κυβέρνηση με στόχο τον τερματισμό της αυστηρής λιτότητας.
Στο ζήτημα του κατώτατου μισθού, σημειώνει το πρακτορείο, η κυβέρνηση του Αλέξη Τσίπρα, η οποία είχε υποσχεθεί την άμεση επαναφορά του σε προηγούμενα επίπεδα, πλέον υποστηρίζει ότι θα επιδοθεί σε διαπραγματεύσεις με σκοπό την σταδιακή άνοδό του και πως οποιεσδήποτε αλλαγές θα πρέπει να συμφωνηθούν με τους εταίρους.
Επίσης, η Ελλάδα δεσμεύεται να προβεί σε μεταρρυθμίσεις στα μισθολογικά του δημοσίου τομέα με τρόπο που δεν θα συνεπάγεται περαιτέρω μείωση των μισθών, αλλά θα διασφαλίζει ότι δεν θα υπάρχει συνολική αύξηση των δαπανών.
Η Αθήνα επίσης δεσμεύεται για ρυθμίσεις στις συντάξεις για εξοικονόμηση χρημάτων και την εξάλειψη των «παραθύρων» και των κινήτρων για πρόωρη συνταξιοδότηση, σε μια προσπάθεια συμβιβασμού για την αποφυγή περαιτέρω μειώσεων στις συντάξεις, όπως είχαν ζητηθεί από τους επιθεωρητές της Ε.Ε. και του ΔΝΤ.
Ειδικότερα, η λίστα περιλαμβάνει:
- Ενσωμάτωση του ΣΔΟΕ στη Γενική Γραμματεία Εσόδων
- Ρύθμιση οφειλών και «κόκκινων» δανείων
- Πιο κοινωνικά δίκαιο φορολογικό σύστημα, με κατάργηση φορολογικής ασυλίας συγκεκριμένων κατηγοριών
- Συνεργασία με τον ΟΟΣΑ, για βελτίωση της λειτουργίας του Δημοσίου,
- Δωρεάν πρόσβαση στην Υγεία για όλους
- Ενοποίηση ασφαλιστικών ταμείων,
- Στοχευμένες ενέργειες στην ηλικιακή ομάδα 50-65 ετών ώστε να λαμβάνουν ένα εγγυημένο βασικό εισόδημα με σκοπό να μειωθούν οι πρόωρες συνταξιοδοτήσεις
- Πάταξη λαθρεμπορίου (κυρίως τσιγάρων) και ξεπλύματος χρήματος
- Αλλαγή στη χρηματοδότηση των πολιτικών κομμάτων και θέσπιση ανώτατων επιπέδων δανεισμού από τράπεζες,
- Επαναφορά της Διαύγειας
- Άμεση ενεργοποίηση της νομοθεσίας για τα έσοδα των media (απαγορεύοντας τη συνεχιζόμενη λειτουργία ζημιογόνων ΜΜΕ),
- Σύγχρονο πτωχευτικό κώδικα, πλαίσιο ρύθμισης οφειλών που θα λειτουργεί διαχωρίζοντας τη στρατηγική πτώχευση από την αδυναμία πληρωμής,
- Αποποινικοποίηση των μικροοφειλετών,
- Χρήση του ΤΧΣ για την εκκαθάριση των «κόκκινων» δανείων,
- Προστασία πρώτης κατοικίας με τρόπο που θα διασφαλίζει ότι δεν θα πέσουν περισσότερο οι τιμές στην αγορά ακινήτων,
- Επανεξέταση ιδιωτικοποιήσεων οι οποίες δεν έχουν αρχίσει, με στόχο τη βελτίωση των όρων για να διασφαλιστεί το μακροπρόθεσμο όφελος,
- Επέκταση και ανάπτυξη του προγράμματος προσωρινής απασχόλησης των ανέργων,
- «Έξυπνη» προσέγγιση όσον αφορά στις συλλογικές συμβάσεις,
- Μεταρρυθμίσεις στη Δικαιοσύνη με βελτίωση της οργάνωσης των δικαστηρίων μέσω αυξημένης εξειδίκευσης και σε αυτό το πλαίσιο υιοθέτηση νέου Αστικού Κώδικα.
- Εξορθολογισμός των συντελεστών του ΦΠΑ, με τρόπο που θα μεγιστοποιεί τα έσοδα χωρίς αρνητική επίδραση στην κοινωνική δικαιοσύνη και με πρόθεση να περιορισθούν οι εξαιρέσεις, καθώς θα εξαλείφονται αδικαιολόγητες εκπτώσεις
- Ταχεία βελτίωση, σε συμφωνία με τους θεσμούς, της νομοθεσίας για την εξόφληση ληξιπρόθεσμων χρεών στην εφορία και τα ταμεία
- Οι τράπεζες θα διοικούνται με βάση υγιείς τραπεζικές αρχές
- Αντιμετώπιση των μη εξυπηρετούμενων δανείων με τρόπο που λαμβάνει πλήρως υπόψη την κεφαλαιοποίηση των τραπεζών, τη λειτουργία του δικαιακού συστήματος, την κατάσταση της αγοράς ακινήτων, θέματα κοινωνικής δικαιοσύνης και την όποια αρνητική επίπτωση στη δημοσιονομική κατάσταση
Όσον αφορά στην ανθρωπιστική κρίση, η ελληνική κυβέρνηση δεσμεύεται να αντιμετωπίσει τις ανάγκες που προκύπτουν από την αύξηση της απόλυτης φτώχειας, μέσω στοχευμένων ενεργειών, με τρόπο που θα είναι «βοηθητικός στην μεταρρύθμιση της δημόσιας διακυβέρνησης και την καταπολέμηση της γραφειοκρατίας/ διαφθοράς». Ως παράδειγμα χρησιμοποιείται η θέσπιση μιας «Έξυπνης Κάρτας του Πολίτη», η οποία θα μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως ταυτότητα, στο σύστημα υγείας, καθώς και για την απόκτηση πρόσβασης στο πρόγραμμα επισιτισμού.
H επιστολή ξεκινά ως εξής:
«Αγαπητέ πρόεδρε του Eurogroup.
Στο Eurogroup της 20ής Φεβρουαρίου 2015, η ελληνική κυβέρνηση προσκλήθηκε για να παρουσιάσει στους θεσμούς, ως τη Δευτέρα 23 Φεβρουαρίου 2015, μια πρώτη εκτενή λίστα μεταρρυθμιστικών μέτρων που οραματίζεται, για να προσδιοριστούν περαιτέρω και να υπάρξει συμφωνία επ'αυτών μέχρι τα τέλη του Απριλίου 2015.
Πέρα από την κωδικοποίηση της ατζέντας μεταρρυθμίσεων, εν συμφωνία με τις προγραμματικές δηλώσεις του πρωθυπουργού Τσίπρα στην ελληνική Βουλή, η ελληνική κυβέρνηση επίσης δεσμεύτηκε να συνεργαστεί στενά με τους Ευρωπαίους εταίρους και τους θεσμούς, καθώς και με το Διεθνές Νομισματικό Ταμείο, και να αναλάβει δράσεις που ενισχύουν τη δημοσιονομική βιωσιμότητα, εγγυώμενη την οικονομική σταθερότητα και προωθώντας την οικονομική ανάκαμψη.
Η πρώτη εκτενής λίστα μεταρρυθμιστικών μέτρων ακολουθεί παρακάτω, όπως την οραματίστηκε η ελληνική κυβέρνηση. Είναι πρόθεσή μας να τα εφαρμόσουμε, αξιοποιώντας παράλληλα τη διαθέσιμη τεχνική βοήθεια και χρηματοδότηση των Ευρωπαϊκών Διαρθρωτικών και Επενδυτικών Ταμείων».
Ακολουθεί το πακέτο των δεσμεύσεων
I. Fiscal structural policies
Tax policies – Greece commits to:
Reform VAT policy, administration and enforcement. Robust efforts will be made to improve collection and fight evasion making full use of electronic means and other technological innovations. VAT policy will be rationalised in relation to rates that will be streamlined in a manner that maximises actual revenues without a negative impact on social justice, and with a view to limiting exemptions while eliminating unreasonable discounts.
Modify the taxation of collective investment and income tax expenditures which will be integrated in the income tax code.
Broaden definition of tax fraud and evasion while disbanding tax immunity.
Modernising the income tax code and eliminating from it tax code exemptions and replacing them, when necessary, with social justice enhancing measures.
Resolutely enforce and improve legislation on transfer pricing.
Work toward creating a new culture of tax compliance to ensure that all sections of society, and especially the well-off, contribute fairly to the financing of public policies. In this context, establish with the assistance of European and international partners, a wealth database that assists the tax authorities in gauging the veracity of previous income tax returns.
Public Finance Management – Greece will:
Adopt amendments to the Organic Budget Law and take steps to improve public finance management. Budget implementation will be improved and clarified as will control and reporting responsibilities. Payment procedures will be modernised and accelerated while providing a higher degree of financial and budgetary flexibility and accountability for independent and/or regulatory entities.
Devise and implement a strategy on the clearance of arrears, tax refunds and pension claims.
Turn the already established (though hitherto dormant) Fiscal Council into a fully operational entity.
Revenue administration – Greece will modernise the tax and custom administrations benefiting from available technical assistance. To this end Greece will:
Enhance the openness, transparency and international reach of the process by which the General Secretary of the General Secretariat of Public Revenues is appointed, monitored in terms of performance, and replaced.
Strengthen the independence of the General Secretariat of Public Revenues (GSPR), if necessary through further legislation, from all sorts of interference (political or otherwise) while guaranteeing full accountability and transparency of its operations. To this end, the government and the GSPR will make full use of available technical assistance.
Staff adequately, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the GSPR and in particular the high wealth and large debtors units of the revenue
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administration and ensure that it has strong investigative/prosecution powers, and resources building on SDOE’s capacities, so as to target effectively tax fraud by, and tax arrears of, high income social groups. Consider the merits of integrating SDOE into GSPR.
Augment inspections, risk-based audits, and collection capacities while seeking to integrate the functions of revenue and social security collection across the general government.
Public spending – The Greek authorities will:
Review and control spending in every area of government spending (e.g. education, defence, transport, local government, social benefits)
Work toward drastically improving the efficiency of central and local government administered departments and units by targeting budgetary processes, management restructuring, and reallocation of poorly deployed resources.
Identify cost saving measures through a thorough spending review of every
Ministry and rationalisation of non-salary and non-pension expenditures which, at present, account for an astounding 56% of total public expenditure.
Implement legislation (currently in draft form at the General Accounts Office - GAO) to review non-wage benefits expenditure across the public sector.
Validate benefits through cross checks within the relevant authorities and registries (e.g. Tax Number Registry, AMKA registry) that will help identify non-eligible beneficiaries.
Control health expenditure and improve the provision and quality of medical services, while granting universal access. In this context, the government intends to table specific proposals in collaboration with European and international institutions, including the OECD.
Social security reform – Greece is committed to continue modernising the pension system. The authorities will:
Continue to work on administrative measures to unify and streamline pension policies and eliminate loopholes and incentives that give rise to an excessive rate of early retirements throughout the economy and, more specifically, in the banking and public sectors.
Consolidate pension funds to achieve savings.
Phase out charges on behalf of ‘third parties’ (nuisance charges) in a fiscally neutral manner.
Establish a closer link between pension contributions and income, streamline benefits, strengthen incentives to declare paid work, and provide targeted assistance to employees between 50 and 65, including through a Guaranteed
Basic Income scheme, so as to eliminate the social and political pressure for early retirement which over-burdens the pension funds.
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Public administration & corruption – Greece wants a modern public administration. It will:
Turn the fight against corruption into a national priority and operationalize fully the National Plan Against Corruption.
Target fuel and tobacco products’ smuggling, monitor prices of imported goods (to prevent revenue losses during the importation process), and tackle money laundering. The government intends immediately to set itself ambitious revenue targets, in these areas, to be pursued under the coordination of the newly established position of Minister of State.
Reduce (a) the number of Ministries (from 16 to 10), (b) the number of
'special advisors' in general government; and (c) fringe benefits of ministers, Members of Parliament and top officials (e.g. cars, travel expenses, allowances)
Tighten the legislation concerning the funding of political parties and include maximum levels of borrowing from financial and other institutions.
Activate immediately the current (though dormant) legislation that regulates the revenues of media (press and electronic), ensuring (through appropriately designed auctions) that they pay the state market prices for frequencies used, and prohibits the continued operation of permanently loss-making media outlets (without a transparent process of recapitalisation)
Establish a transparent, electronic, real time institutional framework for public tenders/procurement – re-establishing DIAVGEIA (a side-lined online public registry of activities relating to public procurement)
Reform the public sector wage grid with a view to decompressing the wage distribution through productivity gains and appropriate recruitment policies without reducing the current wage floors but safeguarding that the public sector’s wage bill will not increase
Rationalise non-wage benefits, to reduce overall expenditure, without imperilling the functioning of the public sector and in accordance with EU good practices
Promote measures to: improve recruitment mechanisms, encourage merit-based managerial appointments, base staff appraisals on genuine evaluation, and establish fair processes for maximising mobility of human and other resources within the public sector
II. Financial stability
Instalment schemes – Greece commits to
Improve swiftly, in agreement with the institutions, the legislation for repayments of tax and social security arrears
Calibrate instalment schemes in a manner that helps discriminate efficiently between: (a) strategic default/non-payment and (b) inability to pay; targeting case (a) individuals/firms by means of civil and criminal procedures (especially amongst high income groups) while offering case (b) individuals/firms repayment terms in a manner that enables potentially solvent
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enterprises to survive, averts free-riding, annuls moral hazard, and reinforces social responsibility as well as a proper re-payment culture.
De-criminalise lower income debtors with small liabilities
Step up enforcement methods and procedures, including the legal framework for collecting unpaid taxes and effectively implement collection tools
Banking and Non-Performing loans. Greece is committed to:
Banks that are run on sound commercial/banking principles
Utilise fully the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund and ensure, in collaboration with the SSM, the ECB and the European Commission, that it plays well its key role of securing the banking sector’s stability and its lending on commercial basis while complying with EU competition rules.
Dealing with non-performing loans in a manner that considers fully the banks’ capitalisation (taking into account the adopted Code of Conduct for Banks), the functioning of the judiciary system, the state of the real estate market, social justice issues, and any adverse impact on the government’s fiscal position.
Collaborating with the banks’ management and the institutions to avoid, in the forthcoming period, auctions of the main residence of households below a certain income threshold, while punishing strategic defaulters, with a view to:
(a) maintaining society’s support for the government’s broad reform program,
(b) preventing a further fall in real estate asset prices (that would have an
adverse effect on the banks’ own portfolio), (c) minimising the fiscal impact of greater homelessness, and (d) promoting a strong payment culture. Measures will be taken to support the most vulnerable households who are unable to service their loans
Align the out-of-court workout law with the instalment schemes after their amendment, to limit risks to public finances and the payment culture, while facilitating private debt restructuring.
Modernise bankruptcy law and address the backlog of cases
III. Policies to promote growth
Privatisation and public asset management – To attract investment in key sectors and utilise the state’s assets efficiently, the Greek authorities will:
Commit not to roll back privatisations that have been completed. Where the tender process has been launched the government will respect the process, according to the law.
Safeguard the provision of basic public goods and services by privatised firms/industries in line with national policy goals and in compliance with EU legislation.
Review privatisations that have not yet been launched, with a view to improving the terms so as to maximise the state’s long term benefits, generate revenues, enhance competition in the local economies, promote national economic recovery, and stimulate long term growth prospects.
Adopt, henceforth, an approach whereby each new case will be examined separately and on its merits, with an emphasis on long leases, joint ventures
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(private-public collaboration) and contracts that maximise not only government revenues but also prospective levels of private investment.
Unify (HRDAF) with various public asset management agencies (which are currently scattered across the public sector) with a view to developing state assets and enhancing their value through microeconomic and property rights’ reforms.
Labor market reforms – Greece commits to:
Achieve EU best practice across the range of labour market legislation through a process of consultation with the social partners while benefitting from the expertise and existing input of the ILO, the OECD and the available technical assistance.
Expand and develop the existing scheme that provides temporary employment for the unemployed, in agreement with partners and when fiscal space permits and improve the active labour market policy programmes with the aim to updating the skills of the long term unemployed.
Phasing in a new ‘smart’ approach to collective wage bargaining that balances the needs for flexibility with fairness. This includes the ambition to streamline and over time raise minimum wages in a manner that safeguards competiveness and employment prospects. The scope and timing of changes to the minimum wage will be made in consultation with social partners and the European and international institutions, including the ILO, and take full account of advice from a new independent body on whether changes in wages are in line with productivity developments and competitiveness.
Product market reforms and a better business environment – As part of a new reform agenda, Greece remains committed to:
Removing barriers to competition based on input from the OECD.
Strengthen the Hellenic Competition Commission.
Introduce actions to reduce the burdens of administrative burden of bureaucracy in line with the OECD’s input, including legislation that bans public sector units from requesting (from citizens and business) documents certifying information that the state already possesses (within the same or some other unit).
Better land use management, including policies related to spatial planning, land use, and the finalisation of a proper Land Registry
Pursue efforts to lift disproportionate and unjustified restrictions in regulated professions as part of the overall strategy to tackle vested interests.
Align gas and electricity market regulation with EU good practices and legislation
Reform of the judicial system – The Greek government will:
Improve the organisation of courts through greater specialisation and, in this context, adopt a new Code of Civil Procedure.
Promote the digitisation of legal codes and the electronic submission system, and governance, of the judicial system.
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Statistics – The Greek government reaffirms its readiness to:
Honour fully the Commitment on Confidence in Statistics, and in particular the institutional independence of ELSTAT, ensuring that ELSTAT has the necessary resources to implement its work programme.
Guarantee the transparency and propriety of the process of appointment of the ELSTAT President in September 2015, in cooperation with EUROSTAT.
IV. Humanitarian Crisis – The Greek government affirms its plan to:
Address needs arising from the recent rise in absolute poverty (inadequate access to nourishment, shelter, health services and basic energy provision) by means of highly targeted non-pecuniary measures (e.g. food stamps).
Do so in a manner that is helpful to the reforming of public administration and the fight against bureaucracy/corruption (e.g. the issuance of a Citizen Smart Card that can be used as an ID card, in the Health System, as well as for gaining access to the food stamp program etc.).
Evaluate the pilot Minimum Guaranteed Income scheme with a view to extending it nationwide.
Ensure that its fight against the humanitarian crisis has no negative fiscal effect.