Retirement

Romania's Social Democrat-led government said on Friday it would cap special pensions for the military and secret services to keep spending in check, Reuters reports.

The International Monetary Fund has urged German authorities to raise the effective retirement age above 67, saying an aging population could work longer and hence save less and spend more.

It was supposed to be a time to look forward to. After decades of work, retirement was for many meant to provide a chance to slow down and enjoy life. A holiday, an evening out with old friends, the odd fishing trip.

Changes to Greek pension legislation, and in particular the reforms introduced by former labor and social security minister Giorgos Katrougalos, have led to a significant drop in the number of citizens applying for early retirement, with civil servants, and teachers in particular, among those increasingly reluctant to leave the work force, Kathimerini has learned.

A circular issued on Thursday by the Labor and Social Security Ministry opens the way for the long-anticipated payment of outstanding pensions but also provides for an average cut of 15-20 percent to the pensions of those who retired after May 13, 2016, when the new legislative framework cleared Parliament.

The government is negotiating a fresh reduction to some auxiliary pensions with the country's creditors in a bid to protect pensioners whose total income comes to less than 1,000 euros per month (as a sum of main and auxiliary pensions).

Increasing numbers of Greeks over the age of 45 are finding themselves at an economic impasse, as the unemployment rate in the 45-64 age group is growing instead of dropping, like the overall jobless rate in Greece.

Four factors are threatening the new Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) this year and are expected to lead to the activation of the automatic fiscal correction mechanism before 2019.

The first factor concerns the government's pledge to release main pensions to at least 120,000 retirees who have been waiting to be paid for at least two years.

The pensions of some 70,000 Greeks who can retire within 2017 will be reduced by up to 20 percent.

The EKAS allowance for low-pension retirees will be reduced by 50 percent, according to a decision by alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Houliarakis and deputy Minister for Social Security Tasos Petropoulos that was published Wednesday in the government gazette.

The move will reduce the cost of the EKAS in the 2017 budget by 421 million euros.