Μake us preferred on Google The Council of State (Cos), Greece’s top administrative court, has ruled that the elimination of holiday and vacation bonuses to public-sector employees – the so-called “13th and 14th salaries – is constitutional and compatible with European Union law, thoroughly dampening a decade-and-a-half campaign seeking restoration and compensation for lost payments.
The plenary of the Council of State issued the ruling in a civil servant plaintiff’s appeal before an Athens administrative court. The civil servants’ umbrella union ADEDY had also intervened in support of the initial litigation and appeal.
The bonuses, known in Greece as the 13th and 14th salaries, were abolished for public servants under a 2012 law adopted during Greece’s bailout era. The claimant argued that Parliament’s failure to restore them between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, violated constitutional protections and EU canons on adequate minimum wages.
The high court rejected that argument, noting that the relevant EU directive could only be invoked after the deadline for its transposition, Nov. 15, 2024. It also relied on a November 2025 ruling by the European Court of Justice, which held that the adequacy of wages is not an EU concept and that determining wage earners’ remuneration falls primarily within the competence of national lawmakers. The court therefore found that the directive did not establish an enforceable individual right to the payments sought by the claimant.
The CoS also examined Greece’s fiscal position since 2018 and its obligations under the EU’s revised economic-governance framework.
A majority of justices concluded that Parliament had remained within the limits of national fiscal policy and that restoring two additional monthly salaries across the public sector would create a permanent and substantial burden on state finances. The court found no evidence that the absence of the bonuses threatened employees’ ability to maintain a dignified standard of living.
The ruling also rejected an argument that public servants were being discriminated against compared with private-sector employees, where the bonuses continue to be paid out. It held that public servants operate under a distinct employment and pay regime and therefore cannot be considered to be in the same or comparable circumstances as private-sector employees.
Six members of the court panel dissented on the equality issue.
The ruling effectively closes the latest judicial route toward restoring the bonuses. The CoS had already indicated in its February 2026 consideration of the case that the fiscal impact would be decisive, with government estimates putting the permanent annual cost of restoring the payments at about 1.37 billion euros, rising to roughly 1.55 billion euros when taking into account employer contributions.
