Diamantopoulou Says Early Retirement A "Crime"
Date: 17-1-2003
The early retirement status is a "crime" both for the viability of the pension system and the labour market, EU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mrs Anna Diamantopoulou said on Friday. Addressing a European Affairs' Commission meeting in Greek parliament, Mrs Diamantopoulou stressed that retirement time limits were not set by the European Union, but from member-states. ''Further social security reforms may not be needed if the government's targets were achieved, such as GDP rise, employment increase, combating tax evasion and inclusion of immigrants in the labour market, "the EU Commission said.
Mrs Diamantopoulou stressed that a strategy on employment was not a strategy on the labour market, but a strategy covering from education and to taxation and offering incentives for demographic rise. The demographic problem was one of the most serious problems facing Europe, as it was linked with increased social security spending, she noted. The Commissioner said that the EU needed a minimum of social standards and that in this framework the EU commission has drafted a total of 27 quantity indices, due for approval by a spring Council of Ministers, while the issue would be discussed in a Labour ministers' meeting in Nafplion, next week.
Mrs Diamantopoulou also expressed her opposition to the introduction of a 35-hour workweek, saying that the measure - implemented in France - did not help to increase employment but it led to problems. She also noted that a higher GDP did not necessarily raise employment and underlined the importance of relating a country's educational system with the labour market citing the example of Ireland.
Mrs Diamantopoulou acknowledged that Greece was facing problems with the rate of absorbing EU funds, particularly in the health sector where the absorption rate was 2 percent, and said that the majority of new EU members would also face problems in absorbing money from EU coffers because of their serious problems in the function of their public administrations.
The EU Commissioner said that Greece's employment rate was just 55 percent (70 percent men, 40 percent women) and that the country was at the bottom of the EU in women's participation in parliament and local authorities.