Pension

Changes entailing increased costs for employers when posting employees abroad remain a cause of tensions in Slovenia. The Finance Ministry has still not delivered on the promise to come up with solutions to mitigate the impact of the legislation, which kicks in in 2024. Criticism has also come from diplomatic circles, where salaries will be impacted too.

The way for the retirement of more than 150,000 EFKA debtors is opened by a draft law of the Ministry of Labor, increasing the debt limit to 30,000 euros.

At the same time, it foresees the abolition of the 30% "penalty" in the pensions of those who work and its replacement with a special contribution, for incomes over €5,000.

The Bulgarian Parliament finally approved the 2023 Budget in a meeting that started at 9 a.m. yesterday and lasted almost 21 hours.

The financial framework is calculated at a deficit of three percent - on an accrual basis, with the preservation of a large part of the originally proposed capital program.

The National Economy and Finance Ministry's bill which includes a variety of the government's economic policy staples was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, said Minister Kostis Hatzidakis.

Titled "Boosting the Income of Wage Earners, Youth, Family, and Labor - Pension Regulations," it "fulfills 50% of the government's economic program commitments," he noted.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has said that the 25 percent increase in pensions has not been seen as satisfying and called on the government to make a further rise.

All the reserves of the new auxiliary social security entity (TEKA), which currently amount to approximately 50.2 million euros, are expected to pass by the end of the year to the responsibility and management of the new fund. They are the first few savings of its approximately 213,500 new insured employees.

The government is preparing legislation that will change the amount docked from pensions for pensioners that go back to work, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai TV on Sunday.

He said a current flat rate of 30% will be replaced by a system that is proportional and based on the number of days worked.

The government has adopted a bill on long-term care that determines the scope of long-term care services the state plans to provide, and introduces a new contribution to finance services that will be paid by employers and employees.

After July 1, pensions will increase by 12%, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ivanka Shalapatova told bTV.

She stated that Finance Minister Asen Vassilev confirmed that there is money in the budget for the increase in pensions under the so-called swiss rule

This means that pensions from 467 leva will increase to 523 leva.

Almost 1,200 pension applications are being processed per day by the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), while last month, according to data from the Labor Ministry's Helios database, almost 30,000 new pensions were paid out.