Pensions in the United Kingdom

By Maria Petrakis

To find out why Greece's pension system is tying negotiators up in knots, look no further than Maria Kounani, 59, a mother of two, single parent and early retiree.

The government will have to find 1 to 1.5 billion euros to cover the cost of a Council of State decision published on Wednesday, which calls for pensioners in the private sector and at state-owned corporations (DEKOs) to have their retirement pay restored to 2012 levels.

The Bulgarian government and representatives of the trade unions and the employers' organisations reached an agreement on the conditions of retirement in the forthcoming years.

The proposal for a pension reform will be tabled to parliament and all three sides said that compromises were made, daily Dnevnik reports.

The government will not back down in its resistance to lenders? calls for cuts to basic or auxiliary pensions, insists general secretary for social insurance Giorgos Romanias.

?There is pressure on this issue but we are resisting this pressure,? he told Ant-1 TV on Monday morning.

By Roula Salourou

The government plans to freeze the cuts to main and supplementary pensions and retirement lump sums through amendments that Alternate Social Security Minister Dimitris Stratoulis is to table in Parliament.

Greek pensioners decreased by 2,865 in February, 2015, and now number 2,654,784 people according to official figures by the Labor Ministry. Pension payments were at 2,346,571,901 euros in March for 4,541,966 pensions of which 2,902,477 were basic pensions and 1,639,489 were supplementary.

Bulgaria's Finance Ministry reversed its decision regarding the social insurance contributions of newly insured persons.

Almost 5,000 Albanians are expected to benefit from the new law on social insurance contributions that entered into force on January 1.  

"All those who do not fulfil the necessary conditions for a pension can claim a social pension if they are older than 70 and have lived in Albania for the last five years," says the law.  

The Bulgarian Parliament is to discuss the proposed controversial changes to pension insurance on Friday.

...

Presidential candidate of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL) Klaus Iohannis met pensioners on Monday to unveil his projects for them.