Athens - Greece's new coalition government will seek to stem
layoffs and extend by two years the application period of a tough
recovery plan imposed in return for EU-IMF loans, an official document
said on Saturday.
The policy document released by the conservative-led
coalition government said an upcoming effort to "revise" Greece's EU-IMF
bailout deal in talks with creditors includes "the extension of the
fiscal adjustment by at least two years" to 2016.
The aim would be to meet fiscal goals "without further
cuts to salaries, pensions and public investment," it said, announcing a
freeze on further civil service layoffs and a boost to unemployment
benefits.
"The aim is to avoid layoffs of permanent staff, but to
economise a serious amount through non-salary operational costs and
less bureaucracy," the document said.
The new government said it wanted to review minimum
wage cuts and measures taken earlier this year to facilitate
private-sector layoffs, arguing that collective labour agreements would
"return to the level defined by European social law" and what Europeans
have agreed on.
It said employers and unions should be allowed to set
the private sector minimum wage, which was cut by 22 percent to 586
euros ($736) in February among additional austerity measures taken to
clinch a new rescue deal.
Greece remains under intense international pressure to
implement the terms of the EU-IMF bailout package that has kept the
indebted country's economy afloat for two years.
European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank
inspectors return to Athens on Monday to resume discussions suspended
because of Greece's two-month political deadlock brought to an end by
elections last Sunday.