Samaras to force 35K ‘unamarried daughters’ to get married as he cuts their pensions

They are some 35,000 unmarried daughters across the country. When we say ‘daughters’ here, do not necessarily think of impoverished teenager girls. They are mostly -meanwhile – middle aged women, daughters of civil servants and of members of the Greek Armed Forces. Women who have remained unmarried in order to make use of a Greek law that grants the diseased father’s pension to unmarried -and/or ‘divorced’ – daughters … and sons. The pension has been received month in and month out, year in and year out, irrespectively if the adult daughter or son had a job and own income. Main point was that the daughter had no husband to come up for her expenses.

I don’t know how old this law is but probably before Noah’s flood. Because after the Noah’s flood women started to work and have their own income. Furthermore in older times, i.e. before 1990 more or less, the children of civil servants would be hired by the state and be civil servants too. Like the children of the bank personnel. They were granting their children the right to get a work at the bank the parents were working.

Anyway, now the finance minister wants to trim down or cut down at all the pensions they receive under the pressure of the Troika, Merkel and the other lenders.

On Monday a few dozens of the ‘unmarried daughters’ gathered outside the Greek Treasury in downtown Athens to protest the sharp cuts of their income.

“I used to receive pension of 1,000 euro, now it is down to just 130 euro,” one of the daughters told news website NewsIt.

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Another daughter of an army officer who fell on the filed in 1945 complained that she was deprived of her father’s pension of 318 euro per month. “Because I receive a pension for being chronic ill,” said the woman who suffers from cancer. She must be at around 70 years old. She has been receiving her father’s pension since 1945! That is for whole 69 years!

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“Across the country, there must be around 35,000 people receiving this kind of pension,” one of the daughters told reporters.

The ladies, most of them in their middle ages and upwards complained about the cuts considering they have a right to their parents’ pensions as the parents’ paid the social contributions.

No, not unmarried daughter from a man or woman who have worked at the private sector had joined the protest. Their right to receive a percentage of their parents’ pension if unmarried was deprived some 150-20 years ago, I think.

Three years ago ( October 2010) the Greek finance ministry issued a circular applying ‘income criteria’ for the pensions received by the unmarried daughters. The pension would be suspended if the ‘daughters’ had annual income above 22,550 euro.

However the circular expanded the measures and allowed also sons (disabled, under-aged, students but also above 50 years old) of diseased civil servants and Armed Forces members to receive pensions up to 728 euro per month.

The decision was to go into effect on 1.1.2011.

Apparently the decision went into effect a lot later, therefore the daughters put up their chick dresses and fancy earrings and went to protest.

Unfortunately, the plight of the 35,000 unmarried and soon to be impoverished daughters of civil servants met only the ironic and insulting comments of the internet users – as expected.

PS I dig deep down in my pocket to find some sympathy for them … but hey! my pocket is empty!