Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1181Dangos y teitl llawn

Article 3 U.K.

1. The economic and financial adjustment programme (the ‘Programme’) prepared by the Greek authorities is hereby approved.

2. The disbursement of the assistance shall be conditioned on Greece's:

(i)

adopting the measures mentioned in the Programme as having 15 July 2015 as the deadline for adoption;

(ii)

taking unambiguous steps to prepare the implementation of the other policy conditions listed in the Programme; and

(iii)

obtaining the agreement in principle from ESM members under Article 13(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism to provide financial assistance to Greece.

3. Greece shall adopt in a timely manner the measures indicated below:

• VAT system

  • adopt, by 15 July 2015, legislation to reform the VAT system. The reform shall target a net revenue gain of 1 % of GDP on an annual basis from parametric changes. The new VAT system shall: (i) unify the rates at a standard 23 % rate, which is to include restaurants and catering, and a reduced 13 % rate for basic food, energy, hotels, and water (excluding sewage), and a super-reduced rate of 6 % for pharmaceuticals, books, and theatre; (ii) streamline exemptions to broaden the base and raise the tax on insurance; and (iii) eliminate discounts on islands, starting with the islands with higher incomes and which are the most popular tourist destinations, except the most remote ones. The reform shall be completed by end-2016, as appropriate and targeted fiscally neutral measures to compensate those inhabitants who are most in need are determined. The new VAT rates on hotels and islands shall be implemented from 1 October 2015.

• Pensions

  • adopt legislation to freeze monthly guaranteed contributory pension limits in nominal terms until 2021;

  • adopt legislation to provide to people retiring after the entry into force of the relevant Greek legislation the basic, guaranteed contributory, and means-tested pensions only at the attainment of the statutory normal retirement age of currently 67 years;

  • adopt legislation to increase the health contributions for pensioners from 4 % to 6 % on average and extend it to supplementary pensions;

  • adopt the appropriate legal instrument to instruct all pension funds to fully implement law 3863/2010 to new pension requests submitted from 1 January 2015.

• Statistical governance

  • adopt legislation to strengthen the governance of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). The legislation shall cover (i) the role and structure of the Advisory bodies of the Hellenic Statistical System, including the recasting of the Council of ELSS (Hellenic Statistical System) to an advisory Committee of the ELSS, and the role of the GPAC (Good Practice Advisory Committee); (ii) the recruitment procedure for the President of ELSTAT, to ensure that a President of the highest professional calibre is recruited, following transparent procedures and selection criteria; (iii) the involvement of ELSTAT as appropriate in any legislative or other legal proposal pertaining to any statistical matter; (iv) other issues that have an impact on the independence of ELSTAT, including financial autonomy, the empowerment of ELSTAT to reallocate existing permanent posts and to hire staff where it is needed and to hire specialised scientific personnel, and the classification of the institution as a fiscal policy body in the recent law 4270/2014; role and powers of Bank of Greece in statistics in line with Union legislation.

• Implementation of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) in the EMU

  • Greece shall implement by 15 July 2015 the relevant provisions of the TSCG.