According to the “Krone” report, the Social Democratic Association of Pensioners (PVÖ) is now putting pressure on the government not to leave the pensioners of 2025 out in the cold. PVÖ chairman Peter Kostelka explains in the “Krone” interview why new pensioners are threatened with large losses and what needs to be done now.
As the “Krone” has reported, anyone who retires next year will face losses of up to 33,000 euros over their entire retirement life. Peter Kostelka, SPÖ veteran, former public prosecutor and current chairman of the pensioners’ association, explains how this can be prevented.
“Crown”: Anyone retiring in 2025 will face significant losses. How much?
Peter Kostelka: If the government does nothing, it will cost many thousands of euros for all those affected.
What are the reasons for this?
The high losses are the result of two factors. Firstly, the so-called aliquoting of the first pension adjustment and secondly, the lack of a protection clause on the pension account. The government must therefore act quickly, because the new pensioners must not be stupid!
What does aliquoting mean?
This is the unfortunate arrangement of the current government, whereby the month of retirement determines the amount of the first pension adjustment in the following year. Those who retire in January will receive the full pension increase the following year. Those who retire in February will only receive 90 percent, in March only 80 percent, and so on. Those who only retire in November or December 2025 will not receive a pension increase at the beginning of 2026. This is unfair and unjust.
What do you demand?
That this completely illogical arrangement be abolished once and for all – at the earliest possible date.
Women in particular are affected by this regulation…
Yes, because the retirement age of women has been raised by half a year each year, most retirement dates for women now fall in the second half of the year. As a result, they receive less or nothing at all for their first pension increase.
Everyone who retires in 2024 will receive an additional ‘upgrade’ on their pension of 6.2 percent…
That’s right, this so-called protection clause was necessary because the last pension increase on January 1, 2024, at 9.7 percent, was 6.2 percent higher than the increase in the amounts on the pension account, which was only 3.5 percent. Without this protection clause, those who retired this year would have suffered high losses in the long term.
Will this problem continue in 2025?
Yes, because inflation is still very high. At the moment there is still no protection clause for 2025. In German this means that those who retire in 2025 are the “Gschnapsten” and have disadvantages.
What would need to happen to prevent this from happening?
That there is also a safeguard clause for the coming year. I demand that the government immediately present the documents to us as representatives of the pensioners and resolve the issue for all future times. In times of high inflation this is unfair and that is why we need a permanent safeguard clause to prevent losses.
Why is there time pressure?
The protection clause requires a law to be submitted to the National Council on the basis of a government proposal. This must be done now, so that the law can be adopted in September, before the elections.
And what about aliquoting?
For changes, the government would have to submit an amendment to the ASVG, which would be decided by the National Council during its last meetings before the elections, on September 18 and 19.
Sounds like there’s still plenty of time…
No, time is of the essence: the point is that the current government must settle these two points before the elections! The National Council will only meet from 3 to 5 July and then only once in September, for the last time before the elections. It would be ideal if there was clarity before the summer holidays, because the people who want or have to retire in 2025 need clarity now!
What happens if the government does nothing?
There are government negotiations after the elections and there is a risk that these important decisions will be lost and the 2025 retirement cohort – around 110,000 people – will be seriously damaged.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
