The final decision of the Supreme Special Court is just around the corner, essentially ending a long legal battle concerning pension cuts during the economic crisis, as well as the right to return to pensioners part of these cuts.
Critical court ruling on pension cuts
Within the next few days it is expected that the court decision will be issued which will determine whether the 350,000 – 400,000 pensioners who have appealed to the Court will immediately receive their 13th and 14th pensions (the Christmas – Easter gifts – summer allowance), as well as the cuts in the supplementary the pensioners.
The cost of retroactive pensions
The decision will only concern the eleven months June 2015 – May 2016 and not the entire period for which they have appealed. The total cost of a similar decision reaches 700 million euros.
However, if the government decides to extend its application to all pensioners (2,500,000), the cost of performance of retroactives reaches 2 to 2.5 billion euros.
Retrospectives on pensions in installments
The government has – so far – avoided committing to something similar citing the high cost of such a decision, while it is considering paying the retroactive installments whether they only apply to those who applied or not. The amounts that pensioners will receive retroactively reach up to 4,000 euros each.
Why did the Supreme Special Court decide on pension cuts?
The matter was brought to the Supreme Special Court after the different – conflicting decisions of the two supreme courts (Supreme Court and Council of State) which related to the eleven months June 2015 – May 2016 and not to the total period for which the pensioners have appealed.
The Supreme Court on pensions
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the cuts to private sector supplementary pensions in terms of Christmas and Easter gifts and the 11-month holiday allowance from 2015 to 2016 are constitutional. The reasoning of the court is based on the assumption that the cuts were made to serve matters of general interest, which touch the public interest, as they are related to the economic rescue of the country.
The CoE for pensions
Instead, the SC has ruled that the cuts are unconstitutional to gifts and vacation pay made under the fiscal adjustment laws in 2012, and specifically for the 11 months between 2015 and 2016.
After these conflicting decisions, the Supreme Special Court is now called upon to resolve this issue. It is noted that the presidents of the Supreme Courts of the country and their members participate in this.
Whatever the high court’s decision, it is certain that its issuance will end a years-long legal adventure by thousands of pensioners who have been taken to court to claim a share of the money they lost during the financial crisis.
The pensioners
It should be noted that all the pensioners are waiting for the resolution of the pending case, hoping for a “political solution” that will vindicate them, decongesting – at the same time – also the courtrooms. The pensioners are waiting for the granting, to all of them, of the retrospectives regarding the cuts in gifts and supplementary pensions for the eleven months June 2015 to May 2016. But the government – so far – avoids committing to something similar.
From the specific eleven months – the cuts of which were deemed unconstitutional – only the reductions related to the main pensions were retroactively returned in October 2020.
The government also did not pay the gifts, as was expressly foreseen by the SC decision of 2019. There followed new appeals to the SC from pension organizations, while now the Supreme Special Court is asked to give the solution.
The claims concerned 723 million for the retroactives of the auxiliaries and 1.875 billion euros for the public and private sector gifts.
Source: ot.gr
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