Katrougalos declared on realfm radio that it is impossible not to have any pension cuts because the bailout agreement requires a reduction of pension cost.
“We will try not to reduce any pension and we can guarantee that we will not reduce low and medium pensions anyway,” Katrougalos said. “From then on, depending on the proposals to be formulated, depending on the contributions collected and the overall state of the economy, we will see exactly how the final figures will be determined,” he added.
Katrougalos further said that he considers low pensions those under 1,000 euros and medium pensions those between 1,000 and 1,500 euros.
Speaking of the overall state of security funds, Katrougalos said that, “we should not only be concerned with pensioners, but we must also see that people who are currently employed will receive a pension at the time they retire. We must keep in mind the overall performance of the pension system.”
However, the labor minister said, he will try to find alternatives to counterbalance reductions and other recessionary measures required by the bailout deal.
The bailout program requires a 3.5-billion-euro reduction in pension expenditure up to 2018.