'Raising retirement age to 67 is just one of the options considered,' said Labour and Pension Minister Marko Pavić commenting on the announced pension reform on Wednesday (March 14).

Earlier this month Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced a new pension system reform, with one of the proposals including raising the retirement age from the current 65 and 62 for men and women respectively to 67 for all, with new rules applying to everyone retiring after the year 2033..

‘The media merely reported about some of the options that are currently considered. A comprehensive reform will be done by the end of this year,’ said Pavić.
‘The next step consists of forming work groups and consulting our partners and employers, which will then be followed with presenting the reform to the public, and sending the bill (to parliament), by the end of the second quarter (of this year). Our primary goal is to secure the sustainability of the pension system. We currently have a ratio of 1.2 workers for every single pensioner in the country, and only 19 percent of them have worked through the full pensionable service of 40 years. Also, our pensions are small. Apart from making the system sustainable, we will look into ways to increase pensions within the limits of our budget,’ added Pavić.

According to last year’s government projections, there were 1.24 million of pensioners in the country at the end of 2017, accounting for 28.7 percent of the entire population.

“What the media did report correctly is that we will change the pension law, and we will look at recommendations by the European Commission referring to extending the length of employment service, to provisions on reduced service years, and to pillar 2 of the pension system,” Pavić said.