A task force led by Croatia's Labour Ministry is considering plans to introduce a national pension allowance, starting in 2021, the Vecernji List daily reported on Wednesday.

According to current law, Croatian nationals must have a minimum of 15 years of service years, and 65 years of age in order to be eligible for pension. The new proposal would allow any person over the age of 65 to receive a state pension.

However, the ministry is now considering whether income or property census would be applied, meaning whether the measure would only include elderly people with incomes below a pre-set threshold.

This means the national pension would be an extension of social welfare benefits, and estimates say that the new system would cover anywhere between 40,000 and 85,000 elderly people aged 65 and up who have no other source of income.

The ministry’s task force has recently sent invitations to social workers, scholars, and pensioners’ associations to take part in preparing a framework for the introduction of the national pension.

Labour Minister, Josip Aladrovic, told Vecernji List daily that the task force is expected to outline the criteria for eligibility.

The legislation is expected to be developed during 2020, and the payments are likely to start in 2021. Experts are currently discussing whether the starting age for receiving the state pension would be 65 or 67.

The “national pension” for elderly citizens was one of campaign promises of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the last election in September 2016.