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Athina Dretta said the causes of the crisis in the Greek social security system are mainly due to the lack of managerial responsibility in the sector and the lack of information about the economic condition of state institutions - hospitals, companies and others. She stressed that solving these problems is not easy. The problem of accountability is expected to be decided by January 2011 and it is part of the socialist government public sector rescue plan. According to her, it would be better a separate organization to be created similar to the Belgian one to deal exclusively with the collection of social contributions.

The problems with the informal economy and the gaps in the collection of contributions due are among the most serious problems of the ministry. According to information provided by working unions, there are losses of about 53% of the mandatory social security contributions in the Greek economy. The restructuring of the largest social security fund IKA to reduce its cost should enter into force by the summer next year. "The next three months will be extremely difficult. All political forces should engage in the changes, and the society should support them," concluded Dretta.  

Rovertos Spyropoulos – CEO of the Social Insurance Institute IKA – talked about the challenges that the government faces in order to minimize deficiencies in the organization. It was founded in 1934, but new smaller social funds were created during the years which have aggravated the system and impede accountability.

The merger of pension and health insurance contributions is another fundamental error made in the past, said Rovertos Spyropoulos. Professional funds proved to be a burden hanging on the shoulders of workers as they had no coverage to productivity. The expert said that the failure of the main insurance funds was predictable in the early 1990s but the lack of political courage and managerial foresight prevented to carry out the proper reforms earlier. According to him, a step in the right direction was made in 1993 when the then government introduced the same rights and obligations to social security funds not taking into account the organization in which people were insured. The Loverdos-Koutroumanis law presented by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Athina Dretta and the merger of small insurance funds in the organization of IKA is another important step in modernizing the system, which unfortunately was delayed by about 50 years, according to Spyropoulos.

Gerassimos Voudouris – CEO of the Social Security Organisation for the Self-Employed – said that his organization is still experiencing structural and organizational problems. The fund has united the funds of different sectors. It has 835,000 people who pay insurances, 320 pensioners and about 2800 employees. The main age group of the people insured in this health-pension fund is between 41-50 years. 80% of the revenues come from contributions and the pensions paid are of approximately the same value. In other words, the total cost is around 4.05 billion euros. The fund’s debtors are around 300,000 who owe an average of not more than 10,000 euros per person. 85,000 of the insured wanted to take the opportunity to pay the accumulated debts to the fund in installments.

The social security fund management has estimated that despite the facilitated payment of old debts to the fund the contributions are still high given the country's economic situation. Therefore, the proposal is to increase the repayment period from 12 to 24 months. It is "better late than never," especially at a time when Greece is in the process of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. Debtors will be allowed to pay the current bills to the company while paying the old debts. The head of the Social Security Organisation for the Self-Employed proposed not to increase the social security contributions of the self-employed because of the economic recession in the next three years.

Private insurance companies also participated in the forum The Social Security Reform in Greece: Will it work? ΕFG Eurolife’s CEO Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou said: "There are two problems in social security: managerial and structural." Sarrigeorgiou explained that the new social security law, which came into force this year, covered managerial problems to a satisfactory level. However, things are more serious with structural problems. He said almost regretfully: "Recent studies show that this system is not effective enough. More of us will live longer and will demand better living standards." The reasons are the demographic collapse after the baby boom in the 1950s and the trends of aging – not only of the Greek nation but in general.

Public security problems could be solved through cooperation between the public sector and the private companies as well as through providing incentives for the formation of additional savings that will supplement the income of citizens in the future. Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou, who is also Chairman of Life, Health, Pensions & Bancassurance Committee and Member of the Executive Committee of the BoD said: "The answer rests on three pillars - tax incentives, regulatory framework and control." Thus he outlined the prerequisites for creating a new social security system that will combine public and private security to provide the desired quality of life of the elderly.