Pensioners' association warns: cuts threaten our future!

Pensioners' association warns: cuts threaten our future!

On December 3, 2024, the President of the Austria Pensioners Association (PVÖ), Dr. Peter Kostelka vehemently vehemently against the negative consequences of current suggestions for reducing the pensions during a board meeting. In the midst of political discussions, a large number of interest groups, including the industrial association and some economic researchers, require an adaptation of the pensions under the inflation rate and an increase in the statutory retirement age to 67 years. Kostelka criticized these ideas sharply and explained that it would be a violation of rights of the already plagued pension recipients who have had to prolong a high inflation of over 10 percent in recent years - a situation that was particularly hard for the older generation. According to him, it is unacceptable that older people are pushed into a “stock roulette game”, which could lead to precarious financial situations, as is already the case in other countries that have similar systems, ots.at .

economic importance of pensioners

The PVÖ also made it clear that the older people should not be seen as a cost factor, but as an important economic factor. Kostelka emphasized that the purchasing power of the pensioners makes around 50 billion euros annually, which is crucial for the Austrian economy. The tax revenues from this population group amount to around 20 billion euros a year, and their volunteer work is estimated at around 2.5 billion euros. These economic contributions are often overlooked when it comes to savings suggestions, said Kostelka. He expressed a clear rejection of the suggestions that pensions would suffer from massive cuts. In particular, he mentions that the minimum pension is still below the poverty border and it is therefore inappropriately to consider cuts at all, such as pvoe.at reported.