Minister plays down controversy over public jobs
Alternate Minister for Administrative Reform Christoforos Vernardakis on Tuesday played down the government’s seemingly numerous appointments of non-permanent staff but also admitted that the presence of such revocable employees is a problem and that their numbers should be reduced.
Reacting to figures published by To Potami, which show the number of temporary advisers rose from 957 to 1,901 between September 2015 and the end of the year, Vernardakis admitted that having a large number of revocable employees creates a “shadow administration.”
However, the minister also defended the government’s right to appoint the advisers it feels comfortable with. He said this is common practice in other countries and cited France and the USA as two examples.
He also played down the controversy surrounding the secretary of SYRIZA’s youth wing, Iason Schoinas-Papadopoulos, whose mother and brother were recently appointed as government advisers.
“Revocable employees leave with the politicians [who appointed them],” he said. “They are not permanent.”
