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Prime Minister Pahor receives Juncker's letter of support for pension reform

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today received a letter from the Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and President of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, in which he voiced his support for the efforts of the Slovenian Government concerning the adoption of the pension reform. As Mr Juncker wrote in his letter, pension reforms are 'unavoidable in the context of ageing populations if we want to preserve our social safety nets and also ensure a decent standard of living to future generations. Life expectancy over the next 50 years in the EU is expected to increase by more than 8 years for men and by nearly 7 years for women. It seems logical that longer life expectancy implies longer working age. This is the only way to ensure an adequate level of income after retirement. Most countries in the EU have already carried out a pension reform or are preparing to do so and Slovenia can be no exception.'

   

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg and the President of the Eurogroup also wrote: 'In my own country, Luxembourg, the government has recently put forward proposals to safeguard the long-term sustainability of the pension system, aiming notably at increasing the effective pension age through a broad range of in-build incentive and disincentive effects. Failure to implement reforms in a timely manner could have serious repercussions for the otherwise remarkable progress Slovenia has made over the past two decades. It would be contrary to how we perceive Slovenia in Europe – as a country that, in times of tough calls, has always taken the right decisions, no matter how difficult they seemed.' Mr. Juncker concluded his letter by stating: 'It is for this reason that we stand behind the efforts of the government to implement this tough, but necessary and intergenerationally fair measure.'