Background information

The government, in March 2022, introduced a series of support measures to address the impact of price rises due to the continuing health crisis and the war in Ukraine.

The Law 4917 on 31 March 2022 (articles 53 and 54) established exceptional financial support measures for the vulnerable groups of the population.

Content of measure

The financial measures for the support of vulnerable groups of the population taken by the government, include the following:

• Aid of €200 per person to low income pensioners, to uninsured elders and to persons with disabilities
• One monthly extra payment for the beneficiaries of the guaranteed minimum income
• An additional one and a half monthly payment of the child benefit in April to the beneficiaries of March, i.e. an installment corresponding to 1.5 months. The amount of this aid shall be, depends on the level of the income and varies: €105 or €63 or €42 for each child up to the first two, and €210 or €126 or €84 from the third and for each subsequent child.

The total cost of all the above interventions is estimated at €324 million.

The granting of the exceptional financial assistance took place before Easter in 21 April 2022.

Use of measure

According to the Minister of Finance, this exceptional aid concerns 1.4 million households, with more than 3.2 million members from vulnerable groups of the population.

The beneficiaries are:

• 677,000 low pensioners
• 35,000 uninsured elders
• 167,000 persons with disabilities
• 240,000 persons eligible for receiving the guaranteed minimum income
• 625,000 persons eligible for receiving the child benefit and refer to more than 1 million children.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Older citizens Disabled Other groups of citizens Pensioners People on social benefits

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

There was no involvement of social partners.

Views and reactions

There were no social partner's reactions to the measure detected.

Sources

• 17 March 2022: Press Release: Statement by the Minister of Finance, specification of the support measures to address the impact of price rises on citizens (www.minfin.gr)
• 23 March 2022: Press Release. Speech by the Minister of Finance at the Plenum of the Parliament (www.minfin.gr)
• 31 March 2022: Law 4917/2022 at 31st March 202 (www.e-nomothesia.gr)