Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said he found the position of government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis on cutting unemployment benefit interesting, adding his voice to a growing rift inside the ruling New Democracy party over the proposal.
Marinakis had suggested shortening the period unemployment benefit is paid to two months, describing the idea as his own personal position rather than government policy. Georgiadis described that stance as interesting under certain conditions and terms, aligning himself with two other New Democracy figures, MP and former minister Makis Voridis and Deputy Interior Minister Vasilis Spanakis, who had already spoken in Marinakis's defence.
Georgiadis defends the right to speak out
Speaking to the radio station Paraskinio 90.1, Georgiadis said New Democracy members were fortunate not to be communists, and that they did not believe in Josef Stalin, Enver Hoxha, Nicolae Ceausescu or Wojciech Jaruzelski. He said this meant the party encouraged freedom of speech and thought, so Marinakis had every right to express his opinion.
Georgiadis called the wider issue of unemployment benefit a complex one that could not be answered in a single sentence. He repeated that the benefit is contributory in nature and serves as a social safety net. He then asked whether, with unemployment near 6 percent and businesses across the board reporting they cannot find workers, the tool ought to be reversed and turned into a subsidy for employment instead.
Voridis and Spanakis rally behind the spokesman
Voridis, speaking on Action24, said benefits needed to be rationalised. Spanakis, on OPEN, said Marinakis had essentially called for strengthening employment and had not said anything out of step with the labour market.
Kerameus and Karagounis push back
The mood inside New Democracy is far less united than those remarks suggest. Labour Minister Niki Kerameus and Deputy Labour Minister Kostas Karagounis both dismissed the spokesman's position. Stelios Petsas, who served as government spokesman under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis previously, called the comment on cutting the benefit period to two months off the mark.
Marinakis tries to contain the fallout
Marinakis has spent recent days trying to defuse the controversy by insisting the proposal reflects his personal view alone, an explanation that has failed to convince critics. Opposition voices in particular argue he is being used as a test case for a broader New Democracy strategy to cut welfare benefits, a suspicion that is gaining traction and feeding a wider perception that government spokespeople speak for the prime minister rather than for themselves.
