Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure GR-2023-8/3100 – measures in Greece
Country | Greece , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 22 February 2023 – 31 July 2023 |
Context | COVID-19, War in Ukraine, Cost of Living Crisis |
Type | Other initiatives or policies |
Category |
Promoting the economic, labour market and social recovery into a green future
– Support for other basic items (e.g., food, housing, public transport, medicines) |
Author | Penny Georgiadou (INE GSEE) |
Measure added | 20 February 2023 (updated 22 March 2023) |
On 23 December 2022, the government, with law 5007 (article 115) established the granting of financial assistance (with the name “market pass”) to households from the state budget. The aid is intended to cover a part of the increased cost of purchases, especially foodstuff, resulted by the significant increase in the consumer price index.
The duration of the financial support was set for the period from February 2023 to July 2023. Subsequent interministerial Decision No. 1170 on 20 January 2023 sets out the details of the implementation of the measure.
The application (platform) for the submission of electronic applications for Market Pass starts on 22 February 2023.
The Market Pass will provide financial aid equaling 10% of households' expenses in food retail businesses. The grant will be maximum €220 for a single-member household, increased by €100 for each additional household member and up to €1,000 for purchases. The amounts are credited monthly to a digital debit card or to a bank account. The beneficiaries of the aid are individual persons if:
The beneficiary shall make the application on the relevant electronic platform on the Single Digital Portal of the Public Administration . The cost of the measure will be covered by the budget reserve to combat the energy crisis. The budgetary cost for the six months, assuming that around half of households will opt to use a debit digital debit card, amounts to around €650 million.
According to government estimates, the income criteria set by the government cover the 83% of households and property criteria cover 95% of households. Potential beneficiaries are estimated at around 3.2 million households (out of 4.1 million households) with around 8.5 million household’s members (out of 10.4 million people).
The weighted average purchase limit is estimated at around €380 and concerns purchases of around €1.2 billion per month.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers | Does not apply to businesses |
Other groups of citizens
|
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
|
National funds
|
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:
There is no involvement of social partners.
There are no social partner's reactions to the measure.
Citation
Eurofound (2023), Market Pass: food subsidy, measure GR-2023-8/3100 (measures in Greece), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/GR-2023-8_3100.html
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30 January 2023
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