Konstantinos Mitsotakis

Tension within the government over public sector reform increased on Tuesday as Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hit out at fellow cabinet members and at PASOK in particular for questioning the evaluation of civil servants and plans to sack another 6,500 by the end of the year.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras or his finance minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, are expected to write to cabinet members this coming week reminding them of the actions that each department has to carry out and the limited time frame in which these measures can be carried out so Greece is prepared for the return of the troika to Athens in mid-September.

The government has no intention of backing down over its commitment to firing civil servants this year and aims to complete their work evaluation despite objections from their union, ADEDY, Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted on Tuesday.

Six hundred university administrative staff who were suspended last year as part of a civil service mobility scheme are set to get their jobs back after an agreement between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos late on Sunday resolved a dispute between two ministries over the number of employees who should be rehired.

 Junior coalition partner calls for better evaluation scheme before public sector workers are dismissed

Andreas Loverdos disagreed over how many university administrative employees should be rehired after being placed in a labor reserve last year, with the remainder being dismissed.

The coalition has bought itself a few more days to settle a dispute over how many of the university administrative staff it placed in a labor reserve last year it will rehire this month but there are growing differences within the government over how and if it should meet the public sector targets it has agreed with the troika.

Just a day after the new cabinet was sworn in, the first disagreement broke out between Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and newly appointed Education Minister Andreas Loverdos.

The government on Tuesday essentially froze a controversial bill designed to lift restrictions on construction along the country’s coastline following vehement protests from across the political spectrum, including objections by junior coalition partner PASOK and environmental protection groups.