An important decision concerning thousands of pensioners who claim to receive two pensions, a widow’s pension and an old age or disability pension, is expected to be taken by the Council of State.
In particular, a case is expected to be heard in Section A of the Court, regarding whether or not these two pensions can be granted at the same time.
The trial will take place on the occasion of three applications filed for this issue, chaired by the vice-president of the Supreme Court, Konstantinos Kousoulis, and the rapporteur, counsel Marina-Alexandra Tsakalis.
How did the case of the two pensions (the other for widowhood and old age) come to be decided by the Council of State?
The document of the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Panagiotis Tsakloglou, was the reason for the impending trial. The document in question refers to the 2016 law (Article 7 paragraph 5, Law 4387 of 2016) which provided that the pensioner will receive only one national pension, clarifying (the Tsakloglou document) that the said provision of 2016 applies and for widow’s pensions, when they coincide with an old age or disability pension.
However, for widow’s pensions, an exception was applied, i.e. they were granted at the same time as another pension (old age or disability for example). What the supreme court will now be asked to judge is whether it is a simple circular to EFKA, as the ministry claims, or whether it is a decision that sets new rules and must be annulled, since, as the pensioners who appealed argue, was not published in the Government Gazette and is therefore not valid.
However, the Tsaklogos document that is judged by the CoE provides, among other things:
a) does not have retroactive effect (therefore, the non-granting of the second national pension applies to widow’s pensions granted after 1.1.2022),
b) double national pensions already paid to death pensioners will continue to be paid as a personal difference and
c) the additional amounts of national pensions paid are not sought.
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