Regional conference of the Panhellenic Federation of Civilian Retirees in Larissa

The President and the Board of Directors of the Panhellenic Federation of Political Pensioners POPS – with 60 Unions across the country, representing over 350,000 pensioners from the public services and the NPDDs continue the program of meetings with pensioners who are members of the POPS Associations.

Today, here in Larissa, the 6^the Regional Conference -23/4/2024-(In the conference room of the event center “Versallies Estate”, at the 5th km of Larissas-Ampelona street, time 10.00 am – 5.00 pm) with the participation of over 150 delegates, where everyone will have the opportunity to be informed about all the issues that are of immediate and great interest to pensioners. They will also have the opportunity to submit questions and proposals during the process of discussing the topics of the conference, which will be answered by the president of the OPPS.

As stated in the announcement:

“Furthermore, in the context of improving quality and action, the OPPS has already opened public intervention and with clear reason takes positions on all issues that concern local communities as well as those with a nationwide scope.

Specifically:

Especially for 2024, by joint decision all Federations of pensioners in the Public and Private sector are focusing on highlighting the issues Health and Accuracy.

HEALTH

The Public Health System faces many and difficult problems with the well-known high responsibility and obligation it has towards the insured and wider Greek society for hospital and medical care.

We have already submitted a memorandum to the Minister of Health, which mentions specific problems of the operational weakness of the country’s hospitals and mainly major shortages in medical and nursing staff, as a result of which it is unable to respond to the great needs of patients. The memorandum was drawn up with the cooperation of health agencies as well as our associations, who pointed out the weaknesses and problems of the health system. We demand from the competent Ministry to make the necessary decisions to improve, at least, the situation. Retirees, like workers, pay quite a large amount each month for their care. Pensioners in particular pay 6% of the main pensions and 6% of the supplementary ones.

1.Accuracy

The continuous increase of basic products, necessary for our survival, but also of fuel has created an insurmountable problem in the purchasing power of our pensions. Our economic weakening is identical to the memorial period when hundreds of euros were written off from the pension. Our remaining meager pensions are being eaten away by the prices of consumer goods. We demand immediate measures to protect our pensions from their continued financial degradation due to accuracy. There is an immediate need to give the indexation adjustment to all pensioners without exception, without setting off the personal difference. Besides, the price index is attributed to protect existing pensions and is in no way an increase.

2. Personal difference

The insulting, unfair, unacceptable and inhumane invention of Mr. Katrougalos (n.4387/2016) of personal difference LIVES AND REIGNS and defiantly makes hundreds of thousands of pensioners increasingly poor. It is not possible after 13 years – we don’t know how many more will follow – that pensions remain frozen and even more so for hundreds of thousands the same criminal regime will continue since the regulation of the medieval concept of law 4387/2016 remains the same and unchanged.

We require:

– Personal difference must be incorporated into our main structure immediately. Besides, the integration does not directly burden the budget, since the corresponding amount is attributed to the pensioners and, as we have been assured, it is not going to be deducted from any pensioner. So the integration decision is a purely accounting act. Thus, the situation will be normalized and from 2024 onwards all pensions will be protected by the index and of course they will start to incorporate any increase that is given. We do not agree with any other method such as that of allowances.

– We reject 100-150-200 euros.

– Mathematical formula – offensive invention for continuity of reductions

3.EAS (Pensioner Solidarity Contribution)

They need to be clarified immediately:

a) With the decision of the Plenary of the Court of Auditors 204 and 504 the EAS deductions for 2017 and 2018 are illegal and must be returned.

b) Reservations in favor of AKAGE are in a cloudy landscape. The reasons for withholding, the assurance of any withholding and the size of the withholding must be immediately clarified.

c) No taxation on the first 1400 euros net.

4. Widow’s pensions

– Immediate unification of the provision of pensions with the same characteristics for pre-2016 and post-2016 pensioners according to the latest legislation (2019)

-100% for those who have no other pension

-50% for those who have another same pension

-Right to choose a pension

– Lower widow’s pension at the level of the respective national pension – currently 426 euros –

5. Retrospective 2015-2016

The return of the said retrospectives which have been illegally withheld in the 11 months (2015-2016) and concern Gifts (Christmas and Easter) and leave allowancetogether with the illegal deductions from supplementary pensions, to be awarded to all pensioners, regardless of whether they have taken legal action or not.

Proposal: To be given from the 17 billion of the AKAGE.

6. Re-establishment of the 13th and 14th pension

The reinstatement and awarding of the 13th pension -Christmas gift as well as the 14th -Easter gift and leave allowance- is right and fair to legislate and restore their performance and obviously to stop any provision of auxiliary allowances. It is understandable that there will be a cost to the budget, quite large. However, it can be settled, even gradually, within the 4-year term of the government.

-AED on 17/4/2024.

7. Tax-free at 12,000 euros

Immediately increase the tax-free income to 12,000 euros. the barbaric taxation of the memorial period must finally end.

8. Immediate abolition of the 6% in favor of EOPYY from widow’s pensions. The deceased pays for care.

9. Family allowance for children and for pensioners. The demographic that is burning our nation, immediately needs solutions.

10. Recalculation of pensions Law 4670/20 and 7.75% (17,000)

11. Grant of pensions.

-7.5 thousand 2017- 2018 main, 50,000 auxiliary – one-time – main with calculation problems – many mistakes.

12. In 1555 – information office

-Law 4997/2022: Actuarial studies. We categorically reject all the arrangements voted in Chapter G, articles 37-42. We tell them clearly and adamantly that any thought that exists of abuse or the grabbing of the movable and immovable property of the Fund will be dealt with so strongly, that it will leave them not only with HUNGER, but also with their disappointment.

POPS proposal

– With the establishment of TEKA – with the law 4826/2021 the public supplementary insurance is abolished compulsorily for the first-time workers – unconstitutionally according to article 22 par.5 and the jurisprudence of the Council of Ministers (2287/2015, 1889/2019) and the private (capitalized) supplementary insurance is legislated . It also gives the possibility to those workers who were born after 1/1/1987, to discontinue their insurance with EFKA-ETEAEP and to be insured with TEKA. This law of Mr. Tsakloglou has been repeated 5 more times in our country and failed disastrously for the insurance system.

A) In 1947 the funds lost 50 billion drachmas.

B) In 1950 with the Marquezini Law 1611/1950 the treasuries lost 33 billion drachmas.

C) With laws 2076/1992 and 2676/1999, the funds lost 4 billion euros.

D) With Law 4050/2012 (PSI) the funds lost 26 billion euros.

E) With the recapitalizations of the banks with the memoranda, the funds lost 4 billion euros.

BEYOND THIS, there will be a problem in supplementary pensions, since the funding deficit will gradually grow, since the subscriptions of new workers will go to the “piggy banks”, resulting in the continuous reduction of our supplementary pensions.

-Increasing the age limits from 5 to 12 years for more than 3 million insured from 1/1/2022, after all early retirements are abolished, except for minimal exceptions.

Here and only the issue of low fertility – demographic– and the small family requires an immediate return to support the parents with retirement and less time and younger age

-Large reductions in widow/disability pensions: Tsakloglou’s circular Φ80000/1017/109302/2021 brings big reductions to all disability and widow’s pensions which in the following years (from 1/1/22 onwards) will be converted into widow’s pensions (in effect all pensions become widow’s pensions ).

-Once: With Article 31 of Law 4870/2020 and Article 35 of Law 4387/2016, from 1/1/2014 onwards and until retirement, only the contributions are paid to those leaving the pension, and even interest-free for the lump sum. The loss of the lump sum amounts to 500 euros for each year from 2014 until the year of retirement. Thus, a part is now calculated until 12/31/2013 in return and a second part from 1-1-2014 onwards only with the contributions as a one-off.

However, in addition to our activities and interventions on the issues that directly, as I mentioned, interest us, we STARTED the connection with society and are the protagonists in events of common interest and issues that interest us either directly or indirectly.

-We monitor and intervene in how the Public Health System of our region works.

-We have a strong voice and dynamic presence for stations and schools of every level.

– We monitor and intervene in matters of safety and protection mainly of our health and our lives.

-We intervene for transportation, for the good condition of roads, squares, playgrounds and much more.

All this and much more that happens around us are necessary functions for the common good of all citizens and of course ours as well. But these need support and assertion. But we also have continuity, because in addition to the fact that in the public sector we are together with the uniformed, about 450,000, but also in general, we have more than 2.5 million retired people and the vast majority are in active action, not only because many retired people are working but also because we have great participation in social, political, cultural, family and many other activities. We are neither renegades nor outsiders.