Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, answering a parliamentary question on 14 July 2026, defended the EU's role in supporting Greek municipal social structures while acknowledging the need for a transition to sustainable national funding. The answer, addressed to Greek MEP Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos (NI), sought to balance EU labour law requirements with the Greek government's controversial staffing reforms for nurseries, kindergartens and children's creative activity centres.
Mînzatu noted that Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions does not prohibit flexible contracts such as part-time or fixed-term arrangements, but requires Member States to prevent abuse. She pointed to a sustainability roadmap agreed with Greek authorities in July 2025, which envisions a gradual shift to full national funding by 2030, backed by an additional EUR 162 million from the European Social Fund Plus for 2025–2029 on top of EUR 373 million already allocated for 2022–2025. The Commission also referenced the 2025 Quality Jobs Roadmap, which calls for prioritising job security and adequate staffing in the transition.
The answer contained no new concrete proposals or numerical targets beyond reiterating existing commitments. It offered declarative support for stable employment but left the specifics of implementation to Greek authorities. The response signals that the Commission views the current EU funding as temporary and expects Greece to assume full financial responsibility for municipal social services by the end of the decade, a move that could affect workers' job security and the continuity of services for working-class families. Institutional follow-up is likely to focus on monitoring Greece's progress toward the 2030 transition, with potential adjustments to funding conditions if milestones are missed.