OPINION

Commentary

Hypocrisy has struck once again; this time on the issue of women’s retirement. As if one could be so insane as to suddenly write off the rights of insured women. Even the pretext (of the deputy labor minister’s suggestion of doing away with early retirement for mothers) was ridiculous: a poorly organized event, one of those that members of the European Parliament have to organize in order to justify the funds they receive from the Parliament. It was also shown that the greater the noise, the more naive the opinions. The president of the labor union rushed to shed tears for the heroic mother. He was joined by numerous others who try to keep secret their complete disregard for the unpleasant things that will await the generations to follow – that is, when the degree of competitive disadvantage in Greece’s production will have been revealed. Why would they care anyway? By that time, they will have retired as unionists, as deputies and ministers. Will the retired mothers then be forced to eke out their living on their children’s income so that they can lead a decent life, or will they have to grovel before the politicians in order to find a job? The social security issue cannot be solved by increasing taxes and deductions in order to subsidize the existing system. First, we have to change the system, to make it more economical, more efficient and, finally, more reliable. Those who have already inflicted a severe blow on the current dialogue should stop exploiting the slightest opportunity to cry out their objections. They rejected Tassos Yiannitsis’s genuine initiative and proposals. Now that the government is returning to negotiations without any proposals, why don’t they sit down to discussions? Is it because they want nothing to change? Or is it because they would have to provide answers to simple questions, such as: Why should a mother retire when her child joins the army, and, why should our society not provide the greatest possible support for motherhood at the very time that a family is formed and the mother has to oversee her children’s first steps?

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