Greece: how will the pensioners to be sacrificed? – The Express

The Greek Parliament is preparing to vote this Sunday night on a controversial pension reform amid protests and on the eve of a meeting of the Eurogroup on Greece. But that is changing, exactly, this reform advocated by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in response to the demands of the creditors of the country, EU and IMF?

STORIES & gt; & gt; Greek pensioners privileged without which the country would go even evil

Claimed by the latter, the reform aims to generate 1.8 billion euros in savings for the state ( about 1% of GDP) … about 5.4 billion euros in savings demanded by creditors, by 2018. According to the Department of Employment, 17.5% of GDP is currently devoted to pensions against 11.5% on average in Europe. That makes Greece the European country that proportionally spends the most on pensions of some 2.8 million people. For the time being.

A system “fairer”?

To reduce this proportion and savings, the government’s plan provides for:

• raise social contributions

• scale back pensions all categories

• lowering of the highest pension ceiling from 2700 to 2300 euros,

• to establish a minimum pension of 384 euros, to which is added the “main board” equivalent to 55-65% of average earnings against 70% today after changing the calculation

• unify the regimes hitherto disparate merging multiple insurance funds

the result is “a gross pension of 750 euros per month. – average in Greece- decline will be 15%, “assessed Tribune in January, during the presentation of this block of 150 pages.

The decline should be more substantial for pensioners who receive more. At least if Alexis Tsipras its promise to lead to a “fairer” system and redistributive, in a country where this system is already used in recent years to “substitute for social policy”, according to observers.

Cuts of 40% since the beginning of the crisis

Accused by many Greeks have “betrayed” the prime minister defended for months this reform to prevent “the system collapses,” while promising to do everything to save the weakest. In January, he pounded his commitment not to cut current pensions, “already reduced by 40%” by previous governments combining right and socialists since the beginning of the cure of austerity imposed under EU pressure and IMF.

With this pension reform, Alexis Tsipras wants to get approval of creditors of Greece to open new negotiations as hoped on a relief of the Greek debt (about 200% of GDP) . But it has also triggered a series of general strikes and demonstrations. The latest, Sunday, brings together 15,000 people in Athens and Thessaloniki, a few hours before the vote in Parliament, where the leftist government has only a slim majority.