Retirement age to increase by up to six years for some
According to the government’s proposed changes submitted to the country’s creditors, it is attempting to put an end to special regulations which currently allow some people who retire before the age of 62 to collect a full pension. This will affect up to 100,000 insured workers, mainly mothers of young children, female civil servants and employees at state corporations and banks.
If the measures Athens is proposing are implemented, some 20,000 to 30,000 workers stand to see their retirement age extended by up to six years.
Besides the measures with an immediate cash effect that the Labor Ministry has forwarded to the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – along with details per social security fund in a bid to convince the troika that 123.5 million euros can be saved next year – there are two clauses that will make retirement a more distant target for many people either through the extension to the retirement age or to the increase in the number of years of social security contributions.
The first change concerns people up to the age of 40 today, as it provides for an increase in the threshold of working days for the right to a main pension from 4,500 to 6,000 days. The change will affect those born after 1975 and will therefore be able to retire from 2042, or at/after the age of 67.
The other change mainly concerns those who are now aged between 40 and 45 and provides for an extension of the early retirement thresholds – i.e. those before the age of 62. This will start applying to people under social security coverage who will be entitled to a pension from 2019 with the addition of two extra years while those to retire from 2020 will have to wait another four years.
It is not yet clear how the status of workers in professions deemed hazardous or unhealthy will be affected, as their current retirement threshold is also threatened by both regulatory changes planned.
