Money, currency, banknotes, Czech crown – illustration photo.
Prague – The government is going to approve the draft amendment limiting the upcoming extraordinary pension valorization in June. According to the norm, the addition due to inflation should be lower only once. The Chamber should decide on it at an extraordinary meeting on February 28. Politicians from the ANO and SPD opposition movements criticize the proposed change and refuse to support it. According to them, it could be unconstitutional. Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) called the opposition's statement folklore, he is not afraid of unconstitutionality. Also, according to the constitutional lawyers contacted by ČTK, the amendment of the law would probably stand up to a possible review of its constitutionality.
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According to the current rules, starting in June, the merit percentage part of pensions should increase due to inflation by the increase in prices for the period from last July to this January. The Ministry of Labor stated in the documents for the amendment that prices rose by 11.5 percent and the average retirement pension would rise by 1,770 crowns. This year, an additional 34.4 billion crowns would be needed. On Wednesday, the government agreed to limit the valorization. According to the proposal, the merit percentage should rise by 2.3 percent from June and by 400 crowns on top of that. The average retirement pension would increase by 760 crowns. It would cost an extra 15 billion. Expenses will be on debt.
The draft amendment should be approved by the government on Monday at an extraordinary remote meeting. After that, he wants to send it to the House of Representatives, which should discuss it on February 28 at an extraordinary meeting. Opposition politicians from ANO and SPD refuse to support the norm. Labor Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) spoke with the chairmen of both opposition parliamentary clubs today, but he did not convince them about the change in valuation. The head of the ANO club, Alena Schillerová, criticized the fact that the government does not include expenses for extraordinary additions to pensioners in this year's budget. ČTK wrote that ANO will try to prevent the adoption of the amendment. Radim Fiala, head of the SPD deputies, believes that pensioners would face huge financial problems after the reduction of valorization. According to opposition politicians, the bill could be unconstitutional. The non-parliamentary CSSD stated that if the valuation were to decrease, it would initiate a constitutional complaint.
Stanjura is not afraid of unconstitutionality. He called the statements of the opposition folklore. According to the Minister of Finance, the government's decision is responsible with regard to intergenerational solidarity. He pointed out that the Czech Republic cannot afford a significant increase in pensions and their ratio to the average wage at a time of large budget deficits. budgetary impacts and maintaining the sustainability of the pension system according to the economic conditions of the Czech Republic. For the sake of constitutionality, it would be optimal if the standard came into effect by March 22, the department mentioned.
According to the consulted constitutional lawyers, the change in the law with the limitation of valorization would probably stand up to a possible review of the constitutionality. Lawyer Ondřej Preuss told ČTK that he does not believe that a possible lower addition would be substantively unconstitutional. According to lawyer Jan Kysela, the decisive issue is the retroactivity, in another level, according to him, the proposal would stand. It would be more important if the procedure is not arbitrary and discriminatory, added Kysela.
According to the Ministry of Labor, the decision is not discriminatory and arbitrary. The resort states in the documents that medium and higher pensions will grow less in favor of lower pensions. According to the authors of the proposal, however, the restriction is a one-off and the rule is maintained that higher pensions will increase by a higher amount, even if temporarily less. million people, of which 2.37 million had an old-age pension. According to the ministry, the average retirement pension in January was 19,438 crowns. The ministries of the interior, defense and justice also have their pension systems.
