Social policies Various social reforms were carried out under Simitis. EKAS, an income-tested
pension supplement that restored the link of minimum pension with 20 daily minimum wages, was introduced, while the pension replacement rate was set as 70% of the last five years of salaries. Seniority pensions were also introduced, along with a contributory pension scheme for farmers. Law 2738/1999 on "
collective bargaining in the public administration, permanent status for workers employed under open-ended contracts and other provisions" laid down, for the first time, "the right of public servants to negotiate their terms and conditions of employment, excluding pay and pensions, and to conclude collective agreements." Law 2874/2000 on 'Employment regulations and other provisions,' in addition to working time arrangements, " regulates a range of important issues relating to
labour relations, such as
overtime, redundancies and matters involving leave," while Law 2839/2000 on 'Regulation of matters regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Public Administration and Decentralisation and other provisions' established a gender quota system in the public sector's various governing councils, administrative boards and collective bodies. In 2003, a substantial level of legislative activity relating to
employment,
workplace health and safety and
social security took place.
Financial policies Simitis is known mainly in Greece for his political philosophy, known as
Eksynchronismos ("Modernization"), which focused on extensive
public investment and
infrastructure works as well as economic and labor reforms. His supporters credit Simitis with overcoming the chronic problems of the Greek economy and thus achieving Greece's admittance into the
Eurozone. During his governance, official data presented inflation as having decreased from 15% to 3%, public deficits diminished from 14% to 3%, GDP increased at an annual average of 4%, and factual labor incomes increased at 3% per year. However, the macroeconomic data presented by Simitis' government were called into question by an audit performed by the successor government of New Democracy in 2004. Many large-scale infrastructure projects were carried out or begun during the so-called 'era of Eksychronismos', such as the new
"Eleftherios Venizelos" Athens International Airport, the
Rio-Antirio bridge, the
Athens Metro and the
A2 motorway (Egnatia Odos).
Internal issues during budget discussions in 2009 In 2000, Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential
Greek Orthodox Church,
Christodoulos of Athens, when the Greek government sought to remove the "Religion" field from the national ID cards carried by Greek citizens on the grounds that the Hellenic Data Protection Authority recommended so; its decision also included the "Nationality" field, but was not implemented following a subsequent EE directive to the contrary. Christodoulos opposed the decision, claiming that the action pursued deviously the religious de-identification of the Greek nation. Faced with the government's robust but unpopular stance, he organized two massive demonstrations in
Athens and
Thessaloniki alongside a majority of bishops of the Church of Greece. Simitis' attitude gained faint-hearted support even within his party, but he found a surprisingly militant ally in the
Eksychronismos opinion makers. Kostas Karamanlis, the opposition leader, signed a petition, organized by the
Church of Greece, calling for a referendum on the matter and signed, too, by more than three million citizens. However, the inclusion of religious beliefs on ID cards, even on a voluntary basis, as the Church had asked, was deemed unconstitutional by the Greek courts.
Foreign policy While PASOK traditionalists disliked his move away from the more traditional/orthodox norms of the
Democratic socialism of
Andreas Papandreou' policies, and also his relative moderation on issues such as the
Cyprus dispute and the
Macedonia naming dispute, his supporters saw both of these as positive elements of the "
eksynchronismos" movement that Simitis was seen as spearheading. During January–June 2003, Simitis, as Greek Prime Minister, exercised the
presidency of the European Council.
Controversy and criticism In 1996, the appointment of the PASOK-leaning
To Vima newspaper editor, Stavros Psycharis, as political administrator of
Mount Athos was particularly criticized by the opposition.
Siemens bribery scandal A significant issue during Simitis' tenure concerned
corruption that was endemic in Greek public life (including the
Siemens Greek bribery scandal, incidents like
Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who later was imprisoned for criminal actions for the purchase of the German type 214 submarines) etc. Siemens CEO Michalis Christoforakos testified that during his trial in Germany, he bribed (2%) both the two major political parties, ND and PASOK (through Geitonas and Tsoukatos, partner of Kostas Simitis). According to Tsoukatos, the money was put in PASOK's cash desk. As of 2018, Simitis was under prosecutor investigation regarding the Siemens Greek bribery scandal, but was later exonerated.
Validity of statistical data New Democracy revised the size of the
defense expenditures for the years 1997-2003 by changing the regulation for the
cost accounting of the
defense expenditures from the date of delivery of war material (delivery basis), which was at the time followed by half the countries of the EU, to the payment date of the advance payments (cash basis). Eurostat accepted the change, because of the lack of reliable data for the deliveries of war material. By the revision of the 1999 defense expenditures, the deficit of 1999, the year of the Greek economy's evaluation, amounted to 3.1%. Since 2005, Eurostat changed its rules and records the defense expenditures according to the delivery date for all the countries of the EU, including Greece. Eurostat requested that the member countries to correct their data retroactively. Greece did not proceed to the rectification. The deficit of 1999, year of the Greek economy's evaluation, is still presented to be 3.1% of the Gross National product (GNP), greater than the Maastricht criterion for a deficit lower than 3% of the GNP. Subsequent revisions of the data show also other countries exceeding the fiscal deficit (government deficit) of 3% during the evaluation period. Thus, in 1997, which is the year of the evaluation of the first countries that became members of the Euro zone, the deficit of France was 3.3%, of Spain 3.4% and of Portugal 3.4%.
Other Other points of criticism included the
1999 Greek stock market crash in the
Athens Exchange, such as his handling on the
Abdullah Öcalan's capture and the
Imia incident regarding the foreign relations with Turkey. Simitis rejected New Democracy's bills for accountability and transparency with regards to governmental expenditure and decisions, while New Democracy leader
Kostas Karamanlis accused Simitis during a parliamentary plenum of being an "archpriest of
cronyism", referencing the index of the NGO
Transparency International. However, Greece's position has fallen by five places in the same index during the New Democracy government (2004–2009). Four years later Karamanlis himself admitted that he exaggerated and that he never doubted Simitis' personal integrity. == Bibliography ==