Pavel: YES, and the coalition agreed on raising the retirement age

“I welcome that we have agreed on several points. The main one was that it is impossible not to act. The sustainability of the pension system requires interventions, we all agreed on that,” declared Pavel after the meeting.

We also agreed that the retirement age will have to be increased in the future

“We also agreed that the retirement age will have to be increased in the future,” the president said. “And that is an absolutely necessary parameter,” he added.

According to Pavel, the debate will continue on how the retirement age will be calculated and how it will be approved. “If it will be some kind of long-term automatic mechanism, or if we will proceed in some steps after periods of time,” he added, adding that it is a “technicality” on which both parties must now agree.

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However, ANO representatives, led by vice-president Alena Schillerová, emphasized that they first expect the government to present relevant analyzes on the retirement age, including the development of the average life expectancy.

“We agreed that we need to see the regular five-year material, which is being processed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs this year and the government should approve it by the end of June,” Schillerová moderated Pavlo’s statement about the agreement on this point. The ANO movement should receive the working version of the mentioned ministerial material by mid-April.

“We talked about the approach to set it up. Whether to set a ceiling there, which would be more of a way for us, whether to keep this five-year interval there, or leave the automatic system there, which is now proposed by Minister of Labor Jurečka,” added Schillerová.

According to her, based on the numbers in the materials from the government, YES will be the retirement age.

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Due to the fundability of the pension system, the government wants to increase the retirement age above 65 in line with the increase in average life expectancy. He plans to lower the calculation of new pensions, but at the same time he wants to introduce a minimum pension of 20 percent of the average wage or an earlier pension for work in a risky environment. According to Schillerová, it is necessary to focus on this in order to increase the retirement age.

After the meeting at the Castle, Labor Minister Jurečka declared that he was open to a debate on the mechanism by which the retirement age limit would be determined. “Whether this is to be a long-term mechanism that will no longer have any possibility of revision by future governments is up for debate,” he said. He appreciated that the consensus was that pension reform is necessary.

According to Jurečka, with regard to earlier retirement for demanding jobs, the Ministry of Labor together with the Ministry of Health tried to approach the matter based on data from the last ten years. “It’s a look at individual specific positions, not general professions,” he stated.

According to its representatives, the ANO movement primarily demands the creation of a second pension pillar, whose guarantor would be the state. “In order to talk about real pension reform, changing the system, it is absolutely essential for us that the second pillar must be created. A motivational pillar that will be linked to investments with state guarantees. A connection with investments in the core is offered, in which 100 billion crowns will be invested in the Czech Republic,” said ANO vice-chairman Karel Havlíček.

Already a week ago, he mentioned the so-called Scandinavian model, in which people would participate in the construction of nuclear blocks with their own money and would have a favorable interest rate guaranteed by the state.

Havlíček now added that the new state fund could invest not only in nuclear energy, but also in infrastructure and housing.

Jurečka already emphasized before the meeting at the Castle that any changes in the reform must preserve its main principle, which is to increase the sustainability of the entire system. He added that the reform must ensure decent pensions not only for current but also for future pensioners. According to Jurečka, the pension system must cope with the increase in life expectancy, with a lower birth rate and with people entering the labor market later.

The cabinet already slowed down the valorization of pensions last year and significantly disadvantaged early retirements.

President Pavel also reminded on Thursday that pension expenses are gradually increasing. It now accounts for about a third of the state’s total expenditure. Last year, 685.3 billion crowns went to old-age, disability and survivors’ pensions. The pension insurance system ended up with a deficit of 72.8 billion crowns and, according to the government, it will gradually deepen.

The President appreciated that Thursday’s debate on changes in the pension system with representatives of the government and the opposition was factual and constructive. “I am very glad that the meeting was held in the spirit of shared responsibility,” declared Pavel. “It is a topic that will affect the lives of our citizens for decades to come,” the president concluded.

The next meeting of representatives of the government and the opposition on pensions with the participation of the president will take place on April 22.

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