Agenda Austria, a think tank, is calling on the next government to reform the pension system and increase retirement age to financially stabilise the country’s pension system.
A pension reform increasing the retirement age would help to make the pension system financially sustainable, but, according to Agenda Austria, there is a lack of political will to do so, the think tank wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“The concern that a group of voters will be frightened [by increasing retirement age] is unjustified, as structural measures only affect future generations of pensioners, not the current one,” it added in the post.
“For 2025, we would like to see a little more honesty in the [public] debate,” it said.
Austria’s pension system is facing the prospect of an increasing number of people retiring, and an ageing population that will increase spending for pensions.
Austria already spends over €30bn for pensions from the public budget, and another €5bn will be added in the next 10 years, according to Agenda Austria’s calculations.
Taxpayers would save around €2.5bn a year by increasing the retirement age by one year, it added.
Increasing retirement age was a topic mentioned by parties during the electoral campaign in Austria that saw the victory of the right-wing populist party Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ).
The parties are still struggling to come to an agreement to form a government three months after the elections.
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