Everything else. The pension age can increase indefinitely, the deputies suggested

This follows from the amendment proposal to the amendment to the Act on Pension Insurance, which was submitted by coalition MPs in agreement with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

If the legislators approve the change, which can be expected due to the government’s majority in the parliament, the rule that was almost the flagship of the reform will drop out of the reform. It was assumed that the retirement age would be governed by life expectancy and that people would know their date when they reached fifty years of age.

It was calculated that Czechs should spend an average of 21.5 years in retirement. The government camp is no longer counting on that. Trade unions criticize it.

“Thus, the justification with which, among other things, Minister Jureček defended the extension of the retirement age was lost. Now it doesn’t make any sense at all,” stated Jiří Vaňásek, vice-chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions.

According to him, the ministry should at least add it to the explanatory report for the amendment proposal.

According to the spokesman of the ministry, Jakub Augusta, the change was prepared in such a way as to be as close as possible to the position of the Czech Demographic Society. She advocated that people spend an average of a quarter of their lives in retirement.

“The option of increasing it by one month without being tied to life expectancy was chosen as the most understandable way of changing the retirement age,” said Augusta.

But according to the original proposal, the increase in the retirement age could at least be stopped if the average life expectancy was shortened, as happened, for example, during the covid-19 pandemic. The upcoming change does not include that.

At least the coalition promised that the increase in the retirement age will be regularly revised. However, even that is no longer in the amendment proposal.

Although, unlike the original version of the reform, the obligation of the ministry to submit a report on the development of the demographic system every five years is retained, but the obligation of the government to respond to it and possibly adjust the retirement age was dropped from the proposal.

The coalition mostly defends its amendment, in connection with lower growth by one month instead of two. “He is socially and medically more sensitive,” Vít Kaňkovský (KDU-ČSL), fellow party member of Minister Jurečka, said during his introduction.

Even for the opposition and unions, slower growth is better, but they do not agree with the increase.

The Ministry and coalition MPs are preparing one more amendment, which concerns education. That’s 500 crowns for each raised child, which especially senior women receive every month in addition to their pension.

Gradually, it is to be completely replaced by a fictitious assessment base, according to which women would be assessed a pension for the period of parental leave according to the national average wage. Now women with below-average incomes have a lower assessment base.

However, pensioners who will retire in 2027 should receive, according to the current proposal, child support in the amount of CZK 300 per month for the first and second child, for those in 2028 it will be 200 crowns and in 2029 it will be 100 crowns. From 2026, or 2027, educational should also cease to be valorized.

However, according to the proposed amendment, a comparative calculation should be carried out for the fictitious assessment base. “Thanks to him, any lower amount will be matched to the resulting 500 CZK of the current education fee,” said Augusta.