Moscovici urges Greeks to reform pension system

“The Greek crisis is behind us, and what we have with the Greeks since this summer is a real success story,” Moscovici said on French TV channel iTele on Monday.
“The Greek government has met its commitments so far. It must also respect its commitments on pensions. There must be a real pension reform,” the former French economy minister said.
The government sent the country’s creditors its proposal for a sweeping reform of the social security system, which foresees cuts to pensions.
The proposal was sent to creditors after Social Security Minister Giorgos Katrougalos presented it to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, leftist SYRIZA’s political secretariat and opposition party leaders.
Despite recent insistence by government officials that no main pensions would be cut, the proposal foresees cuts to the pensions of all those retiring from 2016 onward.
According to social security experts, those cuts could reach 30 percent for those on high salaries, with an average reduction of 15 percent for average-level monthly pensions of 750 euros and above.
For those who have already retired, no cuts are foreseen though the situation would be reviewed in 2018.
The blueprint also proposes an increase of 1 percentage point in the social security contributions paid by Greek employers and a hike of 0.5 percentage point for workers.
Also in the works is a plan to merge all pension funds into one while the lump sums paid out on retirement by main pension funds are to be cut by around 10 percent.
Auxiliary pension funds will also be affected, with beneficiaries set to receive significantly smaller monthly payouts.