Members of three major Croatian trade union federations on Thursday called on MPs not to vote for the government's pension reform proposal.
Members of the three unions federations – the SSSH, the NHS and the MHS – gathered in front of the parliament building on Thursday morning ahead of a parliamentary debate on the pension bill, and handed out leaflets listing their objections to the proposed changes.
The unions called on the government to scrap plans of raising the retirement age for old-age and early retirements, and asked that it is pushed lower to 65 and 60 years of age respectively, from the now proposed 67 years of age.
They are also against the proposed provision that the retirement age for old age pension of long-time insurees be raised from 60 to 61 years starting in 2027. They are also against the proposed linear decrease in pensions by 0.34 percent per each month of early retirement.
VEZANE VIJESTI
The currently used system, under which the rate of decrease goes down as the insuree gets closer to meeting the conditions for old age pension, sufficiently encourages people to work longer, and to delay early retirement, the unions said.
The parliament is set to discuss on Thursday a set of six bills on a comprehensive pension reform, which both the unions and opposition parties strongly oppose.
Labour Minister Marko Pavic previously said that the reform package would allow increased pensions and long-term sustainability of the system, and also reinforce the second pillar of the pension system, which is based on capitalised retirement savings managed by four major privately-owned pension funds.
The reform includes a series of measures, including raising the retirement age to 67 years as early as of 2033; stricter penalties for early retirement, of as much as 20.4 percent pension cut for retiring five years early; and introduces the option for people born after 1962 whether they choose to remain in the current two pension pillars system or if they prefer to transfer their entire pension savings into the first one, which is managed and paid out by the government.
MPs engage in heated debate
The debate on the pension reform which started on Thursday morning was heated from the very beginning of the session.
Opposition MPs Bozo Petrov (Most), Gordan Maras (SDP), and Ivan Vilibor Sincic (Zivi Zid) requested a break so that their party groups could consult on the proposed reform, although while doing so they added that the proposed pension reform would turn future pensioners into addicts, invalids, and dole recipients, and that the proposed reform contained a number of detrimental provisions.
Maras objected that none of the SDP’s amendments to the pension reform had been accepted, Petrov said that he had expected the government to withdraw the pension reform package, adding that the second pension pillar, managed by private-owned pension funds, was designed to make pensions safe and stable – with the government now trying to dismantle it.
In response, MP Branko Bacic of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) dismissed criticism of the bills, repeating that the reform had to be carried out in order to ensure the sustainability of the pension system. He also said that the current government had worked to increase pensions, adding that they grew by 6.4 percent during the current government’s term.
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