DOCUMENT: Record from the Castle. Who is lying about the pension reform negotiations?

The ANO movement is arguing with the government and Prague Castle about what was said at the first meeting on the pension reform. While the Castle, together with the government, supports the fact that the opposition movement nodded to the need to raise the retirement age, the representatives of the ANO movement immediately began to strongly deny it. At the forefront of the dispute is now an important document, the minutes of the meeting published by the Castle, which the opposition disputes. We present it below in full.

The minutes were drawn up by Vladimír Bezděk, the president’s adviser for pension reform, budget policy and the financial sector, former head of the pension commissions. The meeting took place on March 28. Pavel then announced at a press conference that everyone agreed that the retirement age would have to be raised in the future. YES, but subsequently denied the agreement. Another meeting in the same format was supposed to take place this week on Monday, however the opposition movement canceled its participation. It was justified by the fact that some representatives of the government, led by Fiala, intend to push through the reform regardless of the opinion of the opposition.

Minutes of the meeting on pensions from March 28. by Echo24 on Scribd

At the heart of the dispute is one of the recorded conclusions from the discussion. “The representatives of the ANO movement did not dispute the necessity of raising the retirement age, however, they do not agree with the specific proposed method of its implementation (the so-called ‘infinite’ principle). Rather, they prefer a gradual method with a ceiling always set for the given period,” reads the minutes published by the Castle.

Shortly after the March meeting, the ANO movement rejected the claim that it had agreed to the extension of the retirement age. The President subsequently argued with the minutes of the meeting, the first vice-chairman of ANO Havlíček then stated that the movement submitted a fundamental comment to him. In its justification, ANO emphasized that there was no agreement on a sensitive point.

The former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament Alena Schillerová (ANO) also spoke about the possible setting of the “ceiling” at the press conference after the meeting. At the time, she noted that ANO needed regular five-yearly material from the Ministry of Labor on the state of the pension system. “That’s key for us to talk about the retirement age, to see concrete dates there,” she said. According to her statement at the time, the actors discussed the mechanism, ANO would prefer a set ceiling for a certain period. But she also said that the movement would like to take a different path. “But that’s what the debate will be about next time,” added the head of the ANO parliamentary club at the time.