Retirees demand pension reforms in Thessaloniki protest

Dozens of retirees gathered Thursday outside the National Social Security Agency in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, protesting years of pension cuts, rising living costs and higher medication expenses.

Protesters demanded the abolition of the "personal difference" deduction, a formula that offsets pension increases by deducting earlier overpayments, leaving retirees with minimal or no real gains. They also called for the reinstatement of EKAS, a benefit for low-income retirees scrapped in 2016, inflation-based pension adjustments and a cap on health insurance contributions at 4% for primary pensions.

Other grievances included resolving unfair rules on widow's pensions and halting rising drug cost-sharing, which retirees say "erodes their income."