Mechanism for retirees with low pensions
The government is planning to abolish the so-called 13th pension, i.e. the handout to pensioners the SYRIZA administration distributed before the elections this year, though the 971 million euros handed out to 2.5 million retirees will stay in their pockets.
The Labor Ministry is already working on the creation of a permanent mechanism for the support of recipients of low pensions, within the social security system. The amount of the support and the width of the pensioner catchment will depend on two parameters that depend on one another and are not yet definite: The outcome of the actuarial studies by the ministry ahead of drafting the bill for the social security reform and the fiscal capacity of the economy.
The nearly 1 billion euros set aside for the “13th pension” in the budget will likely finance the changes prepared. As minister Yiannis Vroutsis has repeatedly stated, a permanent mechanism will be created and the clause to that effect will be in the bill to be tabled in Parliament probably next month. Sources say that the mechanism will have strict income and property criteria to prove that recipients will truly need the extra support.
