Gen. Sec for Information-Communication announces overhaul to 'correct mismanagement'
The General Secretariat for Information and Communication on Tuesday announced that it was taking action to abolish a regime of "special privileges" enjoyed by a small minority of staff at the expense of the state and their colleagues, which it said had left a gaping hole of 13 million euros in the secretariat's budget when SYRIZA took over.
The secretariat rejected an announcement issued by main opposition New Democracy denouncing its actions as an attempt to make clientelist appointments of SYRIZA supporters, stressing that those hired fully met the criteria and were judged based on their credentials and past careers.
Among the moves taken was the merger of the two general secretary positions into one, for a saving of some 300,000 euros in total and ending the secretariat's subscription to Reuters. It also hopes to save roughly one million euros a year by temporarily suspending the operation of some more remote bureaus abroad and cutting back on spending for the rest.
