Just as the protagonist of Shakespeare’s drama gains the courage to take on justice in the course of the play, too must human agency and responsibility win in each of our inner struggles. This is the only way to ensure the sustainability of the pension system by reducing upward pressure on state benefits and allowing people themselves to recover a larger share of their incomes at a time when there will be no active sources of income at all.
In late June the Lithuanian Parliament adopted a law that consolidated the employer and employee base for social security contributions and significantly cut the rate of contributions.
Forced solidarity creates a contradiction – the working class taking care of themselves seems to oppose the interests of the pensioners, while helping the pensioners more would result in a greater burden on the workers. The pursuit of solidarity leads to a conflict of interests.
We have the pleasure the present you a comparative study that investigates the pensions response of the governments of three CEE countires: Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland, in an attempt to discuss potential measures, necessary for either financial balancing of the systems or their structural changes. Enjoy your reading!
During the global financial crisis, public pensions in Lithuania were cut to reduce further strain on the government budget. The Lithuanian government is now considering backpaying these pensions.
In June of 2012 the newly elected Slovak government finally unveiled first official blueprint of highly rummored consolidating measures. The main objective is continuation of cutting the fiscal deficit below 3% of GDP until 2013. Although we find some of the measures positive, an overwhelming majority of the presented proposals will have a negative impact on Slovakia and its citizens as this consolidation mostly relies on imposing more taxes. Despite many government’s reassurances, most of…
