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Greece will be announcing 10,000 new state sector jobs in 2019, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday in the wake of the announcement Tuesday of a tentative deal with the Church of Greece.
Under the deal, which aims to change the way clerics are paid and resolve a long-standing property dispute, some 10,000 clerics will be moved off the state payroll. Speaking on Wednesday, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said the move will “free up” space for another 10,000 public hirings.
Speaking on Alpha TV Thursday, Tsipras said that the government will secure that there is one hiring for every departure in the public sector.
“In 2019, we will have 8000 departures and an equal number of hirings through the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), plus an additional 7,500 hirings for which we have the funding,” he said.
Also in 2019, he said, there will be 8,000 departures and an equal number of hirings, plus 10,000 positions freed up by departure of clerics.
Referring to SYRIZA’s proposed changes to the Greek electoral system, Tsipras said that a party would need at least 44-45 percent of the vote to form a single-party government.
Name deal 'beneficial'
The leftist prime minister expressed his certainty that the name deal signed between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in June, will be ratified by the Greek Parliament.
“The deal will be approved for one reason: Everyone down to the last citizen understands that despite the difficulties, despite the problems, this agreement is to the benefit of the country – particularly North Greece and Thessaloniki,” Tsipras said.
He evaded questions about right-wing coalition partner Panos Kammenos, who has repeatedly voiced his objection to the deal.
Territorial waters
Speaking about Turkey’s reaction to Greek plans to expand the country’s territorial waters, the Greek premier said that Ankara would have to abide by international law.
“This is not a bilateral issue,” Tsipras said.
“Greece is a threat to no one and it will not stand for threats from anyone. We must proceed with a substantial dialogue [with Turkey] without giving up any of our sovereign rights. We will not tolerate any threats with regard to the timing of the expansion of our territorial waters.”
