Discussions between social partners on pension reform are set to intensify after the August holiday period, with the aim of securing the broadest possible consensus before the bill is submitted to parliament in September.
The government is in the final stages of preparing the legislation. Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas recently said the bill would be ready by the end of this week, after which it will be distributed to social partners and opened to public consultation.
On Tuesday, the labour minister is scheduled to meet Finance Minister Makis Keravnos to brief him on the government's plans before the bill is finalised and circulated to social partners ahead of mid-August.
Speaking recently on the Politis podcast Eyes on the Economy, Mr Mousiouttas was asked whether the Finance Ministry agrees with the reform package. Mr Mousiouttas said it did, while noting that "there is one point that we wanted to look at again."
"We will conclude the financial aspect that affects the state budget," Mr Mousiouttas told CNA, stressing that the government's policy is unified, adding that a meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides will follow.
"I will also request meetings with the parliamentary parties so that we can brief them, in the presence of an actuary, on the details and aspects of the legislation," he said, so that they will be prepared when discussion of the bill begins.
The minister stressed that, since there will be no increase in the retirement age and no increase in contributions, "everyone must take into account that the plan we have developed represents the maximum possible" use of the fund's resources.
"Any change that results in additional expenditure must be accompanied by a corresponding proposal for reductions elsewhere, depending on priorities," he said.
Asked where the revenue for implementing the reform would come from, given that neither the retirement age nor contributions will increase, the minister said calculations had taken into account the increase in contributors, stronger controls aimed at tackling undeclared employment and the existing surpluses.
He added, however, that the surpluses must be utilised with a 40-year horizon in mind, in line with the actuarial study.
Two meetings
Social partners have been informed that two meetings of the Labour Advisory Body have been scheduled for 19 August and 28 August.
"Officials from OEB who monitor and handle pension issues will be abroad and we have requested that the meeting scheduled for 19 August be changed," OEB Director General Michalis Antoniou told Politis.
Among the issues that remain unresolved is the 12 per cent actuarial reduction applied to early retirement.
Mr Mousiouttas told Politis that the 12 per cent actuarial reduction will be lowered to a level below 10 per cent through horizontal application. However, he stressed that it cannot be abolished.
He argued that eliminating the reduction would effectively amount to lowering the retirement age from 65 to 63.
Another important issue that remains pending concerns provident funds and what action the government will take, given the diametrically opposed positions of the social partners.
Trade unions have raised the issue of compulsory participation, with SEK proposing the creation of a mandatory, universal provident fund.
Employers, on the other hand, favour an expansion of provident funds on a voluntary basis.
It is noted that the technical committee on provident funds is expected to meet again on Thursday, with the sole item on the agenda being the definition of the issue of pension adequacy.
The timetable for completing the process concerning the second pillar of the pension system runs until mid-October.
The labour minister has repeatedly stated that if no agreement is reached on provident funds, the government will proceed with submitting the bill dealing with the first pillar of the pension system.
