The government’s timeline for submitting the pension reform bill to Parliament by September 30 remains unchanged, with the goal of implementing it as of January 1, 2027, as Labor Minister Marinos Mousiouttas stated following the latest meeting of the Labor Advisory Council. At the same time, he expressed his willingness to hold even daily meetings with the social partners in order to resolve all outstanding issues.
During today’s session, representatives of the Ministry of Finance presented a detailed breakdown of the reform’s cost estimates, with the Minister speaking of a constructive discussion. As he noted, “the discussion resolved some questions but also raised new ones,” while it was decided to continue the meetings twice a week. At tomorrow’s meeting of the Social Security Council, the technical committee will also provide a clause-by-clause explanation of the bill in order to address technical issues.
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The Minister noted that the Ministry has stated it is prepared to hold even daily meetings of the Labor Advisory Body or the technical committees. “I believe that, for our part, we have provided all the information we could,” he said, adding that he now expects the social partners, once they have analyzed the data, to come back with their own proposals.
At the same time, he made it clear that the government’s timeline remains unchanged. “By September 30, the bill will be submitted to the House of Representatives, and the goal is for the reform to take effect on January 1, 2027, so that everyone can feel the difference—whether small or large—that applies to them,” he said.
He was particularly emphatic, however, regarding public statements made in recent days about provisions of the reform, clarifying that his remarks did not concern the members of the Labor Advisory Council. He described as unacceptable the presentation of—as he put it—mocking or inaccurate excerpts from the reform, which result in the public being given incorrect information. As an example, he cited the claim that the 4.5% reduction in the actuarial cut to the basic pension translates to a maximum benefit of €23, stating that this estimate is “completely incorrect” and that, taking all the data into account, the benefit is “certainly much more than €23.”
The minister further explained that the government’s proposal prioritizes the basic pension and, by extension, low-income pensioners, at a cost of approximately €36 million. As he noted, there are alternative options with the same fiscal cost: among other things, the reduction could be applied to both the basic and the proportional portions of the pension, but at a rate of approximately 2.5%, or it could apply only to current pensioners with a larger reduction in the basic pension. He emphasized, however, that the government’s proposal also covers approximately 40,000 future retirees over the next five years. “There are options. What we cannot change are the costs,” he concluded, urging those who speak out publicly to study the facts first.
