September 2019

19Sep

Greece. New system for auxiliary pensions from 2021

Although the committee of experts set up to study the details of the new system still has a number of issues to work through, the Labor Ministry appears to have decided on the main principles of the new mechanism. These principles will include delinking the need to get the main pension first, before collecting the auxiliary one. Deputy Minister for Social Security Notis Mitarakis says that workers will be able to collect their auxiliary pensions at any point between...

September 19, 2019
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August 2019

01Aug

Greece. Government to introduce ceiling to stop paying huge pensions

The Labor Ministry is about to introduce a ceiling on the monthly amount of pensions, to apply retroactively, in order to plug the loophole in the Katrougalos law that allowed for some very large pensions, which in certain cases exceeded 20,000 euros a month. Ministry sources say that the retroactive application means that any pensioners who received very high benefits will now have to return the amount over the ceiling to be set. They add that they will not...

August 1, 2019
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May 2019

30May

Bank of Greece chief warns of pension drag on state budget

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday sounded the alarm over the cost of social security, warning that the margins are “extremely narrow” for pensions to continue being paid out of the state budget. Speaking at a conference on private health insurance, the former finance minister warned of the challenges of an aging population and said that “poor implementation or backtracking on reforms have increased demands on public pension funds and resulted in higher pension costs.” He also...

May 30, 2019
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06May

Greece unveils bill to help millions who owe tax and pension arrears

By Ian McKenna Greece unveiled draft legislation on Sunday intended to provide relief to millions of Greeks with tax and pension contribution arrears, offering discounts to amounts owed and stretching out payment plans by up to 120 monthly installments. The country’s leftist government, trailing the conservative opposition in opinion polls before national elections due in the autumn, is keen to show its social sensitivity to those facing difficulty paying their accumulated dues. “Our plan helps those who are struggling...

May 6, 2019
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March 2019

01Mar

Greece and Argentina show why pension reforms should not be used as a quick fix for a financial crisis

Greece and Argentina both introduced radical pension reforms following the financial crisis. Drawing on recent research, Marina Angelaki and Leandro Carrera argue that while both countries lacked access to international financial markets and had unsustainable pension systems, the reforms have been short-sighted, ultimately undermining the adequacy and sustainability of pensions. A future overhaul of their systems looks unavoidable. Latin American countries have shared with those of southern Europe a common policy legacy of Bismarckian welfare states where benefits are...

March 1, 2019
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December 2018

12Dec

Greece cancels pension cuts after budget improvements

Greek lawmakers have voted to cancel a major round of pension cuts which were to take effect on Jan. 1, following a fast-track debate procedure in parliament. Lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament voted unanimously late Tuesday in favor of canceling the cuts that would have been worth around 1 percent of Greece's annual GDP. The measures would have seen 1.4 million of Greece's 2.6 million pensioners suffer monthly losses of at least 14 percent, according to European Commission estimates. Greece's third and...

December 12, 2018
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October 2018

18Oct

Greece’s Civil Servants Call 24-Hour Strike Over Pay, Pensions

Greece’s largest public sector union will stage a 24-hour walkout on November 14 to demand wage and pension increases, hirings and tax cuts. “Now that we’ve become a normal country with a normal government which is no longer supervised by foreign powers, now is the time to try to solve some of the problems created in the past eight years,” ADEDY president Yannis Paidas told Reuters. “Public sector workers want their dignity back, we need to recoup some of our losses.” The...

October 18, 2018
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11Oct

IMF on Greece: 3.5 pct Primary Surplus, No Pension Cuts Postponement

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its renewed Fiscal Monitor for October. There, the fund revised Greece’s 2019 growth rate upwards and accepted that it made a mistake regarding the last year’s Greek primary surplus. The IMF had predicted that Greece would achieve a 3.7 percent primary surplus, while now it acknowledges that the country’s surplus reached 4.2 percent. In addition to this, the IMF agrees with the official projections of the Greek authorities and says that Greece will be able to...

October 11, 2018
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03Oct

Greek gov’t submits 2019 state budget draft, agreed pension cuts not included

The Greek government submitted the state budget draft for 2019 on Monday night at the Greek Parliament without including the new pension cuts that were agreed with international creditors under the last bailout program which expired this August. There was no need to slash the pensions from January 1 next year in order to achieve the agreed primary surplus of 3.5 percent GDP for 2019, the Finance Ministry argued in an e-mailed press statement. The satisfactory financial performance of the years...

October 3, 2018
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September 2018

20Sep

Greece. Pensioners body accuses Labour ministry, EFKA of delaying pensions

A Greek pensioners’ body has accused the leadership of the Labour Ministry, the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) and the auxilliary pensions fund of delaying on purpose the issuing of new pensions to secure the record surplus the government is presenting to its creditors. The Unified Pensioners’ Network filed a request for an investigation to an Athens prosecutor on Wednesday asking him to investigate whether criminal offences have been committed against pensioners. The network claims a total of 180,000 pensions are...

September 20, 2018
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