Sugar coalition also failed due to pension reform

For political observers it is anything but surprising that the Coalition negotiations between ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos also failed on the question of pension reform. The statements of Neos boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger (“there were no votes for fundamental reforms several times this week”) leave no doubt about this.

There would be forward-looking (reform) steps in the Education, care, health, in tax, budget or location policy no less important – to name just a few relevant policy areas. But hardly any other topic divides the camps as much as the pension problem. No wonder, then, that the last pension reform worthy of the name was implemented around 20 years ago.

Since the summer at the latest, almost all well-known experts have chosen one of the many possible options Reform options expressed in order to build pressure on the subsequent negotiators in the run-up to the National Council election. Pointless.

Large parts of the AK, ÖGB, SPÖ and the pensioners’ associations have been resisting any tightening for years. Their arguments are: With appropriate economic growth, pensions can also be financed in the future. One Increasing the retirement age is the wrong approach because there are simply too few jobs for older people. Too many people retire for health reasons or because of unemployment.

The latter is also true. It would be all the more important to have a holistic approach that keeps an eye on aspects of the labor market for older people, incentives for longer working hours (possibly even in retirement), but also demographic developments. It’s about setting the course that extends beyond the legislative period and which, given zero growth and the yawning emptiness in the state budget, seem more urgent than ever today.

Because: By 2050, the number of pensioners will increase by one million and the number of employed people will decrease by 300,000. The demographic gap is widening massively and the state already has to contribute 30 billion euros per year to the pension system.

Depositor required

Everything must therefore be done to keep people in working life for as long and as healthy as possible – and thus as contributors to the system. One suggestion is to tighten the conditions of the corridor pension, which allows retirement with reductions from the age of 62. Either in terms of the minimum age or the amount of the deductions.

Working until 70?

Another screw that could be turned if there is enough political will is the starting age for “normal” old-age pensions. It is currently 65 for men and, from this year, 62 for women. Calculations show: If Austrians were to retire a year later, savings of 2.5 billion would be possible annually.

To this end, experts suggest that the retirement age should be linked to the ever-increasing life expectancy. Here too, Agenda Austria has calculated how many billions this would bring per year (see graphic).

If there is no pension reform now, budget consolidation will become even more difficult. Also because the Black-Green coalition recently quickly approved billions for civil servant salaries and pension increases.