Women and men will retire only at 65 years

The government has sent amendments to the Pension Insurance Act into urgent procedure at today’s session in the Parliament. These amendments equalize the retirement age for men and women, writes Nacional.hr

As explained by the Minister of Economy Đuro Popijač, the current pension system is difficult to sustain in the long term and changes need to be introduced to stabilize and maintain it in the future. Therefore, from 2011 to 2019, the conditions for women to acquire the right to a pension will increase by six months in order to eliminate inequalities between men and women by 2020. In addition, the government has changed the conditions for early retirement. Thus, for each year of early retirement, benefits will be permanently reduced by 4.08 percent. The pension will be reduced by a maximum of 20.4 percent for retiring at 60 years. On the other hand, staying in the workforce after the age of 65 will be encouraged by increasing the pension. Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor emphasized that currently in Croatia there are 1,187,509 pensioners, of which only 11 percent have completed a full working career of 40 years, while almost a quarter have retired early.

 The government has also decided to reduce cash benefits for the unemployed. Specifically, money from cash benefits will be redirected to employment mediation measures. Thus, unemployed individuals who are entitled to benefits from the Employment Service will continue to receive 70 percent of the salary base they received at the time of dismissal for the first 90 days. For the remaining time, they will receive 35 percent instead of 50 percent of the salary base. Individuals who are registered with the Employment Service for more than a year will be able to extend their benefit period for a maximum of 4 months. Additionally, individuals who choose to retrain will receive a stipend of 1,600 kuna during that period. Furthermore, individuals who meet the conditions for early retirement will be able to register with the Employment Service and remain there until they meet the conditions for regular retirement. (www.nacional.hr)