“The increase in pensions for the next year is expected to range from 2.2% to 2.5% and approximately two million pensioners will receive it”
“The cumulative increase in pensions over the last three years will well exceed 13%,” states the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, Panos Tsakloglou, in an interview with APE-MPE.
“As the Prime Minister announced at the TIF, the increase for next year is expected to range from 2.2% to 2.5% and approximately two million pensioners will receive it. The increase will be given with the January pension, which is expected to be paid before Christmas,” says Mr. Tsakloglou. At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Labor emphasizes that the government is trying and finding ways to support pensioners with a personal difference, recalling that last year the extraordinary social solidarity allowance was paid, which will be paid again this year to approximately 700,000 pensioners.
Regarding the legislative regulation for the Pensioner Solidarity Contribution, which is being processed by the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Tsakloglou finds that there are indeed some problematic points in its structure, which need improvement – mainly in terms of the fact that there are pensioners who, after the annual increase in their pension, may even see a reduction in the amount payable, due to their transfer to upper tier of the Pensioner Solidarity Contribution. “With a regulation, which we will soon bring to the Parliament, we ensure that no pensioner will see a reduction in their pension, due to a transfer to a higher bracket of the Pensioners’ Solidarity Contribution, after the annual increase in pensions” clarifies the Deputy Minister of Labour.
With regard to the provision of the Ministry of Labor that allows under conditions EFKA debtors to retire, Mr. Tsakloglou notes that, with the signing of the ministerial decision, another step was taken, so that more insured persons can retire, settling their debts. Already, more than 2,500 insured persons have submitted an application to be included in the regulation, making use of the relevant provision.
With reference to the issue of pending pensions, the Deputy Minister of Labor underlines that, with the various changes implemented over the last five years, e-EFKA has achieved a spectacular reduction in the stock of pending pensions and adds that the problem is expected to be finally resolved with the completion of the two big projects that e-EFKA is currently “running”. The first project concerns the implementation of a new truly Integrated Information System. The second project is the digitization of the insurance history of all insured persons. “When these two projects are completed, the problem of pending pensions in our country will be definitively resolved,” assures Mr. Tsakloglou.
Regarding the reform of the supplementary insurance, the Deputy Minister of Labor comments that the role intended to be played by the Auxiliary Capitalization Insurance Fund (TEKA) in the Greek economy and in the pension system is extremely important, but also exponentially progressive. As he points out, the introduction of the new capitalized financial system in the first insurance pillar was successful and the start of operation of the new institution was exemplary. “We have a new digital Fund, which today adequately covers half a million insured persons and almost 200 thousand employers, with coverage throughout the country and all professional branches, without branches, without counters, but with direct service to insured persons and employers through multiple digital service channels” he adds.
Among others, Mr. Tsakloglou reports that, by the end of the year, the completion of the conclusion of the working group established for the construction of a reliable wage index is expected. This index will be used from the new year for the calculation of pensionable earnings and the adjustment of the contributions of freelancers. As he explains, from the new year, the contributions will be adjusted, according to the percentage change in the wage index of the private sector of the economy, in order to keep pace with the real rate of growth of wages in the private sector.
