Brussels, 22/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - After a public hearing on Wednesday 22 January at the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras stressed the importance of the decisions delivered by the Greek supreme court.
The media are talking about the Greek supreme court potentially deciding that the pay cuts for Greek military and police in 2012 were unconstitutional. If it issues such a ruling this would increase the Greek budget gap by half a billion euro and force the government to take alternative measures, as happened recently in Portugal when the country's constitutional court ruled against a number of austerity measures. The European Commission refuses to comment because the Greek court has not issued any official rulings.
Stournaras said rulings by the Greek court had to be taken very seriously, but would not comment on what the court might rule. The matter will be discussed by the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund), which is due to return to Athens later this month. (EL/transl.fl)