SaS to Propose Constitutional Amendment to Protect 2nd Pension Pillar

Bratislava, April 23 (TASR) - The settings of the pension system, including those of the Second Pillar, should be protected by a constitutional amendment, maintains the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, which is concerned that the incumbent government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD) might seize pension savings of the people. Because of this, the liberals have drafted a bill to remedy the situation and plan to reach out to their opposition colleagues to seek their support. In the view of House Financial Committee vice-chair Marian Viskupic, the government has already mounted its first attack on the second pillar. "In late 2023, the government significantly slashed social levies that the people pay into the second pillar: from 5.5 percent to 4 percent. The public awareness about this is quite low, but this is how the governing coalition stole from the people," Viskupic warned at a press conference. "Recently, the Prime Minister said that they want to take people's money away from the second pillar and use it to build highways," added SaS chair Branislav Groehling. He pointed out that currently more than 1.8 million Slovaks are in the second pillar and their pension savings equal €15 billion. The aim of the legislation, sponsored by SaS, is to create a constitutional framework for pension policy with a mind towards the future. The pension system should be bolstered so as to make it resilient long-term against any individual preferences of the governing power. "We hope that no part of the political spectrum will have any issue with our proposal. There should be nationwide consensus on the rules that we propose," said Groehling. The new bill plans to define savings in the second pillar as private property. mf/mcs