Radical changes are being introduced to pensions. Will we cope with Brussels' demand?
"These recommendations are not the first time. We heard them from the last mission of the International Monetary Fund, we heard them from the last report of the OECD, and the other day there was an informal meeting of finance ministers in Budapest. The problem is obviously that the basis on which future decisions about the pension system will be made is the demographic situation and the demographic crisis. We are one of the countries that have a very negative subjective factor. This is an additional minus. For the last 3-4 years, if we analyze the decisions, we will see that a few years ago there was an increase in pensions, which unbalanced the system.
This was stated by the former social minister Hristina Hristova in "Day ON AIR".
She emphasized for Bulgaria ON AIR that there is no system that can bear such a large increase in the average pension.
"For the period 2019-2022 alone, the average pension increased by 76%. And the minimum and maximum pension increased twice and all this happened not with the money from income and social security contributions, it happened with the money of the taxpayers from the state budget and these two things were obtained for which both Brussels and other organizations give recommendations for the debalancing of the pension systems", Hristova added.
In her words, once we find that our pension system is not in good health, something must be done to remedy the situation.
"I have found in the last few years that political instability has led to the accumulation of problems that do not receive their legislative solution even from the executive branch. Because of this instability, it is natural that ministers do not work with long-term visions. With such uncertain majorities in the parliament and with such frequent elections, such serious decisions cannot be made in such an environment", commented the guest.
It is difficult to reach consensus between unions and employers in recent years, Hristova is categorical.
" Bulgaria nevertheless took certain measures back in 2015 and they are still in effect, namely increasing the age for women and men by 1-2 months each. In a report by the National Institute of Public Health, which came out 2 weeks ago, there are some alternatives for solving the problem - one of them is to change the mechanism itself", she also stated.
"The pension system should be accessible to those people who have worked for tens of years and contributed their insurance. The determination of the minimum wage must be based on social dialogue. A number of indicators such as inflation and labor productivity should also be taken into account," the former social minister added.