Brussels, 05/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 January, the European Commission confirmed that it, the ECB and the IMF had all received copies of the draft proposal of the Greek authorities to reform the pension system. “The proposal will now be assessed” and the discussions between the institutions in Greece on this point are expected to be concluded before the end of the monitoring mission “which will start later this month”, announced Margaritis Schinas, spokesperson to the European institution.
According to the Greek press, the proposal includes cuts of between 15% and 30% for individuals to retire from 2016 onwards. It will also merge the main pension funds into a single fund. An increase of social contributions is also planned, by one percentage point for employers and 0.5 points for employees. On Tuesday, government spokesperson Olga Gerovasili announced that pensions will be frozen until 2018, when Greek GDP is expected to return to growth. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)