Minister bending rules to force local hirings

Tension is mounting between local authorities and the government over the insistence of Interior Minister Panos Skourletis that municipal mayors extend the contracts of seasonal workers until the end of 2017.

The extensions would further burden municipal budgets, and critics have slammed Skourletis for trampling on the independence of local authorities, and the government for going out of its way to bypass the Constitution, which forbids the extension of contracts after 24 months.

The situation has fueled indignation among mayors across the country, who say their budgets cannot cope with the extra burden.

"They can do whatever they want. Skourletis cannot decide what I do in my own municipality," Vassilis Kyritsis, the mayor of Kassandra in northern Greece, told Kathimerini, adding that he has to answer to local citizens who voted him into office and not...