Representatives of the ANO movement and the cabinet of Petr Fiala (ODS) agreed on the need for changes in the first pension pillar, while the opposition entity did not question the necessity of raising the retirement age, however, they do not agree with the specific mechanism proposed by the government. This follows from the record of the March meeting on the pension reform between Petr Pavlo, representatives of the government led by Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) and ANO politicians.
Prague
15:09 24/04/2024 (Updated: 15:19 24/04/2024)
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Alena Schillerová and Karel Havlíček (both ANO movement) | Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková | Source: iROZHLAS.cz
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.
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Karel Havlíček, Alena Schillerová and Aleš Juchelka participated in the meeting for the ANO movement.The negotiations between the parties 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 Petr Fiala (ODS), intend to push through the reform regardless of the opinion of the opposition.
So the President met only with Jurečka and his colleagues and said that he was still trying to find a compromise. He did not rule out holding a round table with tripartite representatives and experts in about a month and a half.
The YES movement, shortly after the March meeting, refused to agree to the extension of the retirement age. The President subsequently argued with the minutes of the meeting, the first vice-chairman of ANO Karel 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.
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According to a record published on the Castle’s website, representatives of ANO and the government agreed that without changes the first pension pillar is not financially sustainable in the long term. Both sides were also in agreement that they consider it sustainable in the long term if the difference between the income and expenditure of the pension system does not exceed the limit of roughly one percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) per year.
The record declares that ANO politicians “did not question 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 fixed ceiling for a given period.’
According to the Castle minutes, representatives of the opposition entity also presented their idea of the second, so-called investment pillar. “On the part of the ANO movement, it is necessary to work on the adjustments in the first pillar and the creation of the second pillar in parallel,” the record says.
Several tasks for the individual parties also follow from the minutes, for example in terms of the delivery of specific materials. Pavel said on Monday that the deadline for delivering the documents was April 7. According to the president, the only one who did not provide the documents was the ANO movement.
Havlíček was shocked by the publication of the minutes, which were not approved by one of the actors of the meeting. “In the same logic, we could do our version. I admit that I have never encountered this, especially when we responded properly and promptly to the report and asked for clarification regarding our position and our position,” he noted. “If we didn’t respond, I understand that, but we asked to change our statement and we clearly justified why,” he added.
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In general, Havlíček understands that everyone can interpret the conclusions differently. However, if someone directly quotes ANO, they must agree on the exact wording of such a statement in advance, or they must wait for it to be recorded, he thinks. “Not a single one happened,” he said.
According to Havlíček, at the press conference after the meeting in March, Schiller said that raising the retirement age was not the path that ANO would like to take, and that is why she requested additional documents. “Does anyone think from this statement that we agreed to raise the retirement age?” asked Havlíček.
At the aforementioned briefing, Schiller noted that ANO needs 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.
RECORD OF PENSION REFORM NEGOTIATIONS
Record of the meeting on the pension reform
Place: Castle, 28/3/2024; 11.00-12.30
Present:
– representatives of the ANO movement (A. Schillerová, K. Havlíček, A. Juchelka, M. Bílková)
– government representatives (M. Jurečka, I. Merhautová, K. Procházková, T. Machanec)
– CPR representatives (P.Pavel, M.Vašina, T.Lebeda, J.Němec, V.Kolář, D.Marek, V.Bezděk)
Agenda:
1) There is consensus that without adjustments the pension system is financially unsustainable in the long term
– so isn’t a “no need to do anything” scenario acceptable?
2) Is raising the retirement age necessary? (including the issue of the so-called
demanding professions with the possibility of early retirement)
3) Creation of the 2nd pillar and its basic principles1
4) Is it necessary to slow down the rate of growth of newly granted old-age pensions?
Conclusions from the discussion and tasks:
In the opening speech of the President, 4 basic principles were mentioned, according to which the discussion will take place:
1) Good will – all actors enter the discussion with a genuine interest in dialogue
with the counterparty
2) Argumentation based on data and analysis – all actors are ready to support their claims a
arguments with data and analysis
3) We focus on the future – we won’t get bogged down in what has or hasn’t been done
said or not said
4) Joint communication of outputs – after the end of the meeting, a joint TK will take place in the format
the president + 1 representative of the government and 1 representative of the opposition
These rules were agreed upon by all participants and everyone agreed to abide by them.
Ad 1)
– Representatives of the ANO movement and the government agreed that without changes the first pension pillar is not long-term
financially sustainable
– Representatives of the ANO movement and the government agreed that they consider it sustainable in the long term if the difference between
income and expenses of the pension system will not exceed the limit of approx. 1% of GDP per year
– Representatives of the ANO movement expressed interest in the current analysis of the sustainability of the pension system,
which the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has to process by law in the spring of tr
– TASK: The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will send out a working version of the current projections of the pension system; T: 15/4/2024
Ad 2)
– Representatives of the ANO movement did not question the necessity of raising the retirement age,
however, he does not agree with the specific proposed method of its implementation (the so-called “infinite”
principle). Rather, they prefer a gradual method with a fixed ceiling for the given period.
– The representatives of the government explained the procedure by which they worked during the last year
(MPSV+MZDR) on the list of demanding professions. The outputs were also discussed with social
partners, although for time reasons the proposal was not included in the external comment procedure.
– TASK: The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will prepare a description of the process by which the current draft scope was arrived at
demanding professions; T: 7/4/2024
– TASK: representatives of the ANO movement will prepare comments on the current way of defining demanding
by profession; T: 7/4/2024
1 The representatives of the YES movement requested to discuss this point and it was added to the meeting agenda.
Ad 3)
– Representatives of the ANO movement presented their idea of the second pillar (motivational pillar, manages funds
to become a state guarantee of yield; investments are made in long-term infrastructure projects; it’s about
funds beyond the 28% contribution rate; client participation is voluntary rather than mandatory).
On the part of the ANO movement, it is necessary to work on adjustments in the first pillar and the creation of the second pillar
in parallel.
– TASK: representatives of the ANO movement will prepare a description of their idea of the key principles a
parameters of the second pillar; T: 7/4/2024
Ad 4) left for the next meeting due to time constraints
Next
– In the discussion, another meeting was agreed on 4/22/2024 at 3:00 p.m.
– Deputy Prime Minister Jurečka promised that the legislative proposal will not be included in the
discussed by the Government of the Czech Republic.
– TASK: Deputy Prime Minister Jurečka will prepare a timetable for discussing the first amendment
pension pillar (Government, Chamber of Deputies, Senate and President) in order to identify
dates by which the legislative proposal can be modified according to any agreement “government – opposition” so that,
for the law to enter into force on 1.1.2025; T: 7/4/2024
Written by: Vladimír Bezděk
CTK
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