The Swiss, whose aging population is facing rising living costs, voted today in favor of paying a 13th pension, taking a “historic” step according to the proposal’s supporters, but rejected an increase in the retirement age.
The proposal for a 13th pension won 58.2% of the country’s vote, according to provisional but almost final results, which also show it won a majority in more than half of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, a requirement to adopted.
On the contrary, the proposal aimed at gradually increasing the retirement age from 65 to 66 years seems doomed to fail.
According to opinion polls, a large majority of voters were in favor of the first initiative, a union proposal entitled “To live better your pension” which provides for the payment of a 13th pension each year, just as many Swiss workers receive a 13th salary .
Monthly Swiss social security pensions are capped at 2,450 Swiss francs (2,570 euros) for a single person and 3,675 francs for a married couple, in a country regularly ranked among the most expensive in the world. The minimum pension is 1,225 Swiss francs (1,393 euros) per month.
In the city, the rent for a three-room apartment is at least 3,000 francs (3,150 euros). A coffee costs more than five francs.
The initiative has a precedent in Europe: neighboring Liechtenstein, another expensive country that uses the Swiss franc, adopted a similar system years ago.
“Purchasing Power Crisis”
“In Switzerland there is, as everywhere, a crisis of purchasing power. The standard of living of pensioners is being degraded,” Pierre-Yves Maiard, president of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation (SGB) which supports “yes”, explained to AFP.
Jakob Ory, a pensioner invoked by the Yes campaign, agrees: “The cost of living is skyrocketing” and the pension, “which is supposed to guarantee a minimum standard of living, is not following”.
The parties of the left support the initiative, but the right and centrist parties strongly react. The government and parliament are also opposed.
The government argued that the proposed increase would cost more than four billion Swiss francs a year and warned that tax increases would be needed and the financial stability of the social security system could be threatened.
The government also estimates that the proposed change for all pensioners, whatever their financial situation, will provide only a limited social benefit.
“If the initiative is adopted, many retirees will receive a 13th Social Security payment even if they do not really need it,” the federal authorities point out.
Voters are also deciding on a proposal by the Liberal Party youth group which aims to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 over the next decade to ensure the pension system continues to be funded.
But the initiative seems to have no luck: according to the latest polls, only 35% of respondents are in favor of such a measure, while 63% are opposed.
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