Filenews 8 October 2025 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Despite the two opportunities given to them by the state to pay the overdue contributions to the Social Insurance Fund (SSF), through plans, the citizens did not take advantage of them to the extent expected. This is because more than 50% of the debtors who were included in the two plans of overdue contributions in instalments, were automatically removed, due to their non-compliance with the provisions of the regulations.
All this at a time when the Parliament is making an effort to open a third plan. In detail, in the two plans of 2016 and 2021, 12,463 debtors were approved to participate, half of whom were left out of the plan as they either delayed paying instalments for more than three months, or failed to pay the current contributions within the specified deadline. Based on the provisions of the two plans, debtors had the opportunity to pay off their debts through 54 equal monthly instalments. In fact, in the event that a debtor pays off his debts in a lump sum, then he is exempt from the additional fee. In addition, the Social Insurance Services do not proceed to take judicial measures against those who have joined the arrangement, while in the event that criminal charges against the debts were registered, they were suspended by decision of the Attorney General.
The two plans
In detail, in the first plan implemented in 2016 due to the economic crisis, 9,592 applicants applied for the settlement plan and 7,749 (3,036 legal entities and 4,713 natural persons) were approved. Their debt amount, based on the instalments they chose and the corresponding reduction of the additional fee, amounted to €124.9 million. By March 2025, an amount of €58.5 million had been collected after a number of debtors have been forfeited from the settlement. The second plan was implemented in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, to which 5,861 persons applied, of which 2,766 correspond to legal entities and 3,095 to natural persons, and 4,716 persons (2,297 legal and 2,419 natural persons) were approved. The amount of their debt amounted to €104.2 million. An amount of €36.5 million has been collected from a specific project. Today the total number of debtors who are still included in the plan is 572 (352 legal and 220 natural persons). Of these, the current balance is €8.6 million.
The party proposals
Yesterday, the parliamentary Labour Committee discussed the law proposals of DIKO, ELAM and DIPA, which increase the number of instalments, with the Minister of Labor Giannis Panagiotou warning of the risk of normalization of the relevant regulations, as he said this would negatively affect the payment of contributions. In fact, he noted that due to the pension reform, such plans should be closed and not repeated. According to the minister, the impression should not be created that a new plan will be opened every five years. He assured that together with the MPs he will examine the proposals, adding that it is better not to create expectations among debtors. He indicated that debtors should pay their contributions and not create new debts.
