By: Vida Kocjan
The ruling coalition (Gibanje Svoboda, SD, and Levica) has drafted changes to the pension legislation, calling it a pension reform – but it is far from that. In reality, it is just cosmetic tweaks to the existing law, as even the chief analyst of the country’s largest economic association pointed out in an interview for our weekly.
MEP Romana Tomc, a well-versed expert in this field, wrote on social media that “this is not a pension reform, but merely a checkmark needed for Brussels to unlock EU funds”. She added that the coalition’s real intention is to lower pensions. The government is struggling to explain itself, yet Robert Golob is very active on social media – despite having said before the elections that “he would not be caught dead there”. In a short video, he boasts that pensioners will be rewarded this year with a €150 “Christmas bonus”. Tomc is clear: the government knows their proposals will lead to lower pensions, which is why they are now offering pensioners these consolation prizes. And let’s not forget – we are in an election year.
It might still be bearable, if it were not for the fact that this same coalition, as of July 1st this year, burdened retirees with a new charge: 1% of their net pension for long-term care. On top of that, they turned the voluntary health contribution into a mandatory one and even raised it by more than two euros. At the same time, the RTV license fee was increased by 10%. If we add all that up, a retiree with an average pension of €900 will this year pay €108 in long-term care tax, €24 more for the mandatory health contribution, and €15 more for the RTV fee. That is €147 extra. And yet Robert Golob has the audacity to brag about a €150 “Christmas bonus.” As much as they take, they pretend to give back. If they even do. Truly the lowest of the low.
