Government to decide on second pension pillar, says Finance Minister

The government decides about payments into the second pension pillar and will do so very soon because a budget revision should be completed in February, Finance Minister Slavko Linic told reporters before a government session on Thursday.

The government decides about that and not the minister, he said.

"There are various options and what the government will decide will be seen very soon, because in February we want to finish work on the revision so that we can inform the European Commission of the results of the short and long term measures (to tackle the budget deficit) the government formulated last year."

Linic said recently that the government would try to find a solution for the budget deficit without touching the pension funds and that it would like the funds to start investing their money.

Our obligation is to control the deficit and all options are possible in this struggle, he said then, when asked if the payments into the second pension pillar might be frozen.

In the meantime, the Pensioners' Union urged Linic to immediately cancel the existing second pension pillar model, saying it was detrimental to the state, workers and pensioners. The union advocated the return of the HRK 58 billion from the second to the first pension pillar, and the gradual introduction of a voluntary pillar similarly to most European countries.

(Hina)



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