Employer contributions back on table
The Labor Ministry is seeking ways to reduce the cuts it is set to impose on pensions, considering the options of increasing employer social security contributions, using a part of the general taxes to finance the deficits of the pension funds, and transfering revenues from privatizations to the social security system.
As it starts to appear that even pensions below 1,000 euros won’t be safe from the cuts, the ministry is reviving proposals that had previously been rejected by the representatives of the country’s creditors, such as the increase in employers’ social security contributions.
Well-informed sources say that the government has brought the partial or full return of employers’ contributions to the level of 2012, when the first reduction of 1.1 percentage points applied, back to the negotiating table. A further cut of 3.9 percentage points followed in 2014. These reductions led to a 1-billion-euro drop in Social Security Foundation (IKA) revenues.
