site.btaSocialist Party Proposes Freeze on Length of Service, Retirement Age to Continue in 2015

119 POLITICS - BSP - RETIREMENT AGE - PROPOSAL

Socialist Party Proposes Freeze on
Length of Service, Retirement Age
to Continue in 2015


Sofia, November 18 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)
proposes that the freeze on the length of service requirement
and the retirement age should continue in 2015, Kornelia Ninova
MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria told a news conference in Parliament.

This is one of the proposed amendments to the Social Security
Code.

The opposition BSP suggests that in 2015 women should still be
able to retire aged 60 years and eight months, after 34 years
and eight months' service. The retirement age for men should
remain 43 years and eight months, and the length of service
requirement should be 37 years and eight months as now. The BSP
wants the freeze it proposed in 2014 to continue. It applied to
some 15,000 people who were able to retire this year.

Another proposal has to do with early retirement, which would
allow one to retire on a 0.4 per cent lower pension if they are
two years short of the retirement age or the required length of
service. "We want this bill to be debated quickly because from
January 1 the retirement age and length of service start
increasing by four months a year," said Ninova.

She commented that the government and the entire system were
under pressure to start increasing both retirement criteria, and
that two arguments were cited: the deficit of the National
Social Security Institute (NSSI) and EU practice and EU law. The
BSP argues, however, that the NSSI deficit could be offset
through better compliance for social insurance contributions and
more jobs. The Socialists also reject EU practice as an
argument because actually, on retirement, Bulgarian men are aged
64 years and five months, and women are aged 61 years and three
months. In contrast, the average retirement age in the EU is 61
years and seven months for men and 61 years and three months
for women. At the same time, life expectancy in Bulgaria is
about seven years lower for men and stands at 70 years for men
and 77 years for women. Ninova said it was unacceptable to have
EU law and practice applied automatically to Bulgaria.

Georgi Gyokov MP said decisions about the pension system should
be acceptable to society, ensure the system's stability, and be
stable in time. LI/DD