March 2019

01Mar

Greece and Argentina show why pension reforms should not be used as a quick fix for a financial crisis

Greece and Argentina both introduced radical pension reforms following the financial crisis. Drawing on recent research, Marina Angelaki and Leandro Carrera argue that while both countries lacked access to international financial markets and had unsustainable pension systems, the reforms have been short-sighted, ultimately undermining the adequacy and sustainability of pensions. A future overhaul of their systems looks unavoidable. Latin American countries have shared with those of southern Europe a common policy legacy of Bismarckian welfare states where benefits are...

March 1, 2019
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December 2018

12Dec

Greece cancels pension cuts after budget improvements

Greek lawmakers have voted to cancel a major round of pension cuts which were to take effect on Jan. 1, following a fast-track debate procedure in parliament. Lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament voted unanimously late Tuesday in favor of canceling the cuts that would have been worth around 1 percent of Greece's annual GDP. The measures would have seen 1.4 million of Greece's 2.6 million pensioners suffer monthly losses of at least 14 percent, according to European Commission estimates. Greece's third and...

December 12, 2018
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October 2018

18Oct

Greece’s Civil Servants Call 24-Hour Strike Over Pay, Pensions

Greece’s largest public sector union will stage a 24-hour walkout on November 14 to demand wage and pension increases, hirings and tax cuts. “Now that we’ve become a normal country with a normal government which is no longer supervised by foreign powers, now is the time to try to solve some of the problems created in the past eight years,” ADEDY president Yannis Paidas told Reuters. “Public sector workers want their dignity back, we need to recoup some of our losses.” The...

October 18, 2018
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11Oct

IMF on Greece: 3.5 pct Primary Surplus, No Pension Cuts Postponement

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its renewed Fiscal Monitor for October. There, the fund revised Greece’s 2019 growth rate upwards and accepted that it made a mistake regarding the last year’s Greek primary surplus. The IMF had predicted that Greece would achieve a 3.7 percent primary surplus, while now it acknowledges that the country’s surplus reached 4.2 percent. In addition to this, the IMF agrees with the official projections of the Greek authorities and says that Greece will be able to...

October 11, 2018
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03Oct

Greek gov’t submits 2019 state budget draft, agreed pension cuts not included

The Greek government submitted the state budget draft for 2019 on Monday night at the Greek Parliament without including the new pension cuts that were agreed with international creditors under the last bailout program which expired this August. There was no need to slash the pensions from January 1 next year in order to achieve the agreed primary surplus of 3.5 percent GDP for 2019, the Finance Ministry argued in an e-mailed press statement. The satisfactory financial performance of the years...

October 3, 2018
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September 2018

20Sep

Greece. Pensioners body accuses Labour ministry, EFKA of delaying pensions

A Greek pensioners’ body has accused the leadership of the Labour Ministry, the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) and the auxilliary pensions fund of delaying on purpose the issuing of new pensions to secure the record surplus the government is presenting to its creditors. The Unified Pensioners’ Network filed a request for an investigation to an Athens prosecutor on Wednesday asking him to investigate whether criminal offences have been committed against pensioners. The network claims a total of 180,000 pensions are...

September 20, 2018
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November 2017

10Nov

Greece. Pension cuts to reach up to 18 pct in 2019

The recalculation of pensions paid out to people who have already retired will likely lead to major cuts for pensioners of the former Traders’ Fund (TEBE/OAEE) and the civil servants’ fund, as well as those who used to work at banks and state firms. According to data presented to the country’s creditors by the Labor Ministry, three-quarters of the recalculations have been completed, while the process is expected to finish by year-end. The cuts will be implemented from January 1, 2019,...

November 10, 2017
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October 2017

24Oct

About 100,000 Greeks Receive their Pensions from the German State

100,000 Greek citizens are receiving their pensions from the German state, wrote German newspaper Rheinische Post. Rentenversicherung data shows that the number of Greek pensioners eligible for a German pension has more than doubled since 1990, the year of German reunification, to 1.76 million people, from 780,000. That amounts to 7% of all pensions in Germany. Almost one million pensions are being payed by the German Pensions Desk to pensioners from countries such as Italy (373,000); Spain (226,000); Greece (100,000); France (87,000), and Turkey...

October 24, 2017
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13Oct

IMF Sees Fiscal Gap for Greece, Pension Cuts Might Come Sooner

The International Monetary Fund foresees a fiscal gap of 2.3 billion euros in the 2018 budget, which might mean that the pension cuts scheduled for January 1st, 2019 will be implemented earlier. Greek finance ministry sources downplay the IMF forecast claiming that all previous predictions by the Fund, have been overly pessimistic. However, the IMF forecast might delay the third review of the bailout program, which has to be completed by the end of the year. This generates uncertainty among...

October 13, 2017
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04Oct

‘Shame on you’ chant Greek pensioners over bailout cutbacks

Several hundred elderly Greeks shouting “shame” marched through Athens on Tuesday protesting against deep cutbacks to pension payments ordered by the indebted country’s creditors. In weak autumn sun and a city teeming with tourists, pensioners took to the streets angered by more than a dozen rounds of cuts since Greece toppled deep into crisis in 2010. More cuts will be on the way in 2019, under further reform to pension regulations. Creditors including the EU and the IMF took some of...

October 4, 2017
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