Next Friday, the Austrian Statistics will present its calculated target value – probably 9.7 percent – for the pension adjustment of 2024. According to calculations by NEOS, this plus would cost more than 6.4 billion euros. “The pension system is no longer financeable,” commented NEOS social spokesperson Gerald Loacker once again, “it needs to put an end to pension donations.”
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has already stated in the APA summer interview that he wants to stick to the value of Statistics Austria this time, so unlike in previous years nothing should be added.
NEOS expects pension adjustments to cost 6.4 billion
Based on the answers to questions from Minister of Social Affairs Johannes Rauch (Greens) and Minister of Finance Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), NEOS counted on 5.66 billion euros in costs for an adjustment of pensions by 9.7 percent. According to the opposition party, according to Loacker, the government only provided information about civil servants’ pensions, but not, for example, about civil servants whose pensions are usually increased by the same amount.
In order to include as many civil servants’ pensions as possible, the NEOS estimated, based on the data in the medium-term report of the Old Age Security Commission, that an additional EUR 767 million would be added. In total, the pension increase of 9.7 percent would cost more than 6.4 billion euros, according to NEOS.
Not a cost factor, but an economic factor
Loacker recalled that retirees had already received a one-time payment in March to compensate for high inflation, costing a total of €650 million, and in a statement to the APA called for this one-time payment to be “deducted” when calculating the pension increase. Retirees’ incomes have risen more than those of working people in recent years – “that is inexplicable and unfair”.
The red pensioners union reacted indignantly. “Selective one-off payments” that should not even deduct all pensioners received from the pension increase “is out of the question,” Secretary-General Andreas Wohlmuth stressed in a statement. “Retirees have suffered a huge loss of purchasing power over the past two years,” he said. Wohlmuth emphasized that retirees are not a cost factor, but an economic factor.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
