site.btaLabour Minister Kalfin: Serious Debate on Reform in Pension System Remains for 2015

110 POLITICS - LABOUR MINISTER - PENSION REFORM - COMMENT

Labour Minister Kalfin: Serious Debate on
Reform in Pension System
Remains for 2015


Sofia, November 19 (BTA) - The serious debate on the reform in
the pension system remains for 2015, and it cannot be solved in
the budget procedure for next year, Labour and Social Policy
Minister Ivailo Kalfin told journalists Wednesday.

"The increase of the retirement age by four months is too steep
a scale but we will try to adopt a decision [on the matter] as
part of the whole pension reform by taking into consideration
the commitments made by Bulgaria to the EU for predictability in
the pension reform. There are various scenarios and they are
not related only with the retirement age," Kalfin said. He added
that at the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) they have
talked about various scenarios for the retirement age.

Kalfin said that he and the Finance Minister are about to
discuss how the revenues in the NSSI will be calculated in 2015.
"There could be a change next year and we have agreed with the
social partners to hold a serious discussion on the topic," he
noted.

The budget has to be ready by this year's end, it cannot wait,
the Labour Minister told journalists. At present, the retirement
age for men is 63 years and eight months, while for women it is
60 years and eight months. If nothing changes, the retirement
age will go up by four months in 2015. The retirement age's
increase was introduced by the previous GERB government
(2009-2013) and frozen for a year by the cabinet of Plamen
Oresharski (2013-2014).

The freezing of the retirement age for one more year would mean
an even wider gap between the first two categories of workers
and the third one, Kalfin said. The EU institutions are also
monitoring the process and want stability in the pension system,
he went on to say. Asked at what age miners, metallurgists,
pilots, police officers and service members should retire,
Kalfin said that for all categories of workers there should be
not only a specific length of service but also a retirement age,
and that for these people other work should be found so that
they would not have to carry out hard functions more than what
is necessary.

If the deflation level is removed from the Swiss rule for the
annual indexation of pensions, these will increase by 2.4 per
cent next year, while with the inclusion of the deflation level
in the calculations the increase will be only 1.9 per cent,
Kalfin explained.

One of the commitments of the ABV coalition is an increase of
the incomes, particularly the low ones. This is a useful
economic measure, said the Labour Minister who is a member of
ABV. "I am grateful for the understanding on the matter shown by
the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister," Kalfin added.

The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation and the whole
sector headed by the Labour and Social Policy Minister will be
transparent to the highest degree, Kalfin told journalists.

LI/DS