Mitsotakis: Substantial increases in pensions, from January 1, after many years

For substantial increases in pensions, from January 1, 2023, after many years, the prime minister made a speech Kyriakos Mitsotakiswho met at Megaros Maximos with the head of Retired Associations.

“I won’t give a long overview of what we have done and what we think needs to be done from now on. I’ll just say we were consistent in commitments which we had given, in a series of critical issues such as the clearing up of the problem of pending pensions which was a chronic wound for the Greek public administration and – to say it as I feel – a shame for people who have been waiting for years to receive the their pension.

And of course, the fact that for the first time we will have substantial pension increases from 1/1/2023, after many years, combined with the abolition of the solidarity levy for all, it creates a bulwark against the big inflationary pressures that I know are also putting a lot of pressure on pensioners who, by the way, are dependent on a stable source of income”, noted Kyriakos at the start of the meeting Mitsotakis.

The Prime Minister analyzed the interventions that the government has launched for the strengthening of pensioners’ income, following the cuts imposed by the Katrougalou law, which include the resumption of regular increases and the abolition of the special solidarity levy from the beginning of 2023, the payment of an emergency aid of 250 euros for the most vulnerable in December and the credit of the fourth annual installment, which the Vroutsis law provides, for those who had submitted an application before May 2016 having completed 30 years of insurance.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that, according to an analysis by e-EFKA, the new increases will cover almost 95% of pensioners, more than 2.47 million citizens, while many will see increases from two or three sources. Almost 1.7 million beneficiaries are estimated to benefit from the ‘unfreezing’ of regular increases, more than 840,000 are estimated to see an increase in their earnings thanks to the abolition of the solidarity levy and around 1.2 million will receive the extraordinary aid of €250 .

The representatives of the pensioners noted for their part the pressures exerted on the income by inflation, and asked the government to make bigger increases in their salaries, but also to abolish the mechanism of the personal difference and to integrate it into the pension.

They also set the payment of retroactive gifts and supplementary pensions for all, but also the payment of pensioners’ contributions to their trade unions, which have been withheld. At the same time, specific requests were submitted, concerning specific associations and federations.

“I have seen on the agenda a number of other more detailed issues. We are happy to be here to listen to you all and then to discuss them in as much detail as is required”, stressed the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister pointed out the drastic reduction of pending pensions and EFKA debts, which were a chronic problem for thousands of citizens. By the end of September, all outstanding pensions for the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 had been settled, for 2020 97% of applications have been issued, while the corresponding percentage for 2021 amounted to 91%. As for the current year, 85% of the pension applications submitted by the end of May 2022 have been cleared, as it is now possible to issue multiple pensions even in 60 days. Regarding the debts of the EFKA for pensions and retrospectives, they now amount to 40 million euros, compared to almost 490 million in July 2019.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis also emphasized that in the last three years a series of actions have been implemented that have financially supported pensioners, such as the reduction of the import tax rate to 9%, the cumulative reduction of ENFIA by 35%, the abolition of the upper limit of 1,300 euros which the Katrougalos law provided for those receiving main and auxiliary pensions, the reduction of the personal difference for hundreds of thousands of labor fighters and the return of cuts of the Katrougalos law amounting to 1.3 billion euros that were deemed unconstitutional by the CoE.

On the part of the pensioners’ organizations, the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Civilian Retirees Ilias Iliopoulos, the President of the Federation of Pensioners IKA Dimos Koumpouri, the President of the Federation of Pensioners OAEE Christos Kolovos, the President of the Panhellenic Association of Retired Lawyers Panagiota Tsakoulia and the Vice-Admiral e. a. Theodoros Geroukis, President of the Union of Discharged Naval Officers and President of the Coordinating Committee of the Three Bodies.

On behalf of the government, the Ministers of State Giorgos Gerapetritis and Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister responsible for Social Security Matters Panagiotis Tsakloglou, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Yiannis Bratakos and the General Secretary of Social Insurance Paulina Karasiotou participated.

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