[Intime]
The ministries of Social Cohesion, Labor and National Economy are working together on a plan to completely overhaul of the benefit policy system within 2025, with the aim of achieving a universal structure that does not produce more injustices and inequalities than those it is designed to remedy.
The main pillars of the planned reform, which will be gradually implemented over the course of the year, are the introduction of property ownership criteria in the most important benefits paid by the Organization for Welfare Benefits and Social Solidarity (OPEKA), the strengthening of the contributory nature of benefits for the unemployed granted by the Public Employment Service (DYPA), as well as the reform of the Single Social Security Entity’s (EFKA) sickness and disability benefits.
The plan also foresees the creation of a National Benefit Registry, as well as the introduction of prepaid cards for most benefits.
According to the minister for Social Cohesion and Family, Sofia Zacharaki, after studying the current situation with specialized experts, officials found significant distortions, weaknesses and gaps in the social benefits system and concluded that the system should have already been reformed.
The aim of the change is to give the system a unified structure.