Filenews 9 August 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
An additional €2.05 billion above what had been budgeted, was needed by the state from March 2020 to June 2022 to deal with the effects and needs caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. Specifically, during the last 41 months, due to the situation that continues to prevail, the Parliament approved a total of 10 additional budgets amounting to €2.05 billion.
And that despite the fact that the state, under the Law on Fiscal Responsibility, known as the umbrella law, has the right every year to submit only two supplementary budgets and these after June 15 of each year. However, due to the emergency situation, the European Commission decided to relax the fiscal rules, thus allowing Member States to approve additional appropriations to cover the needs arising from both the pandemic and the Ukrainian war. They also covered the payroll of the new posts that had been created as well as other expenses needed in the ministries to implement their planning. According to data collected by "F", in 2020, the state needed additional appropriations of €1.07 billion to cover the employee support plans and the one-off grant that has been granted to businesses that were affected by restrictive measures taken by the Government to contain the coronavirus. At the same time, the additional appropriations, which were approved through three supplementary budgets, covered the needs created in state hospitals due to the increase in hospitalizations of patients with coronavirus.
An additional €707 million spent last year
Moreover, in 2021, due to the continuation of the pandemic, some government measures, the start of vaccinations and the conduct of free diagnostic tests, additional appropriations of €707 million were approved by the Council of Ministers. Of these, appropriations of €691 million were made. They were included in five supplementary budgets to which Parliament gave the green light. Meanwhile, last year, additional appropriations of €16 million were approved from the Fixed Fund of the Republic for which the submission of supplementary budgets is not required.
This year until June, two additional budgets were approved by the Parliament totalling €273.8 million. and it is not excluded that by the end of the year, other additional costs will be required. The first supplementary budget was €102 million and the funds were spent on the availability of coronavirus tests and staffing of public health clinics, the purchase of services from mobile units to conduct tests, the purchase of medicines and vaccines for the pandemic and the payment of overtime for the requisitioning of doctors and nurses. They also covered emergencies arising as a result of the war in Ukraine, such as the accommodation of displaced persons from that country, as well as support for sheep and goat farmers, cow farmers and pig farmers. Finally, the additional appropriations in the second supplementary budget were €171.8 million.
