The three scenarios for the new payments of cuts to principal (EAS), gifts, ancillary [πίνακας]

Retroactive payments for pension cuts with amounts starting at 750 million euros and reaching up to 2.3 billion euros depending on the number of beneficiaries who will receive them are now on the table of the decisions which will concern the government which will emerge after the elections.

The retrospectives card contains reimbursements with amounts ranging from 600 euros for small pensioners to 4,000 euros for those who request additional reimbursements, while for the State and EAS the amounts reach up to 6,500 euros .

The question is first who will get them and second how and when.

The answers lie in three scenarios which will be discussed the day after the elections by the new government, when decisions are made.

The retrospective payment scenarios, according to the latest information collected and published today by the “Insurance and Pensions” insert, are as follows:

1. Legislation should be passed to retroactively pay retirees who have sued and so far all decisions have justified them. In this scenario, around 350,000 retirees from all funds who have filed claims by July 2020 will get refunds of up to €4,000 in additional pension reductions and gifts. The cost of refunds in this case is low, about 750 million euros and comes out comfortably even in one go, from the money remaining in the budget (about 900 million euros). In this way, all ongoing lawsuits are closed, inconveniences are stopped and the beneficiaries receive their money, without waiting their turn to be heard.

2. To be made retroactively by legislative regulation to all pensioners, who have suffered reductions in supplementary pensions, supplementary pensions, main pensions and reductions in EAS concerning state pensioners. This means that those who did not sue will also get refunds. In this case, the beneficiaries reach 1.5 million pensioners and the cost of retroactive payments amounts to 2.3 billion euros. The amount is prohibitive to any government, but the rule of law does not allow the separation of beneficiaries based on who sued and who did not, when both have the same losses and the the unconstitutionality of the cuts was diagnosed by the Supreme Court without considering the existence of lawsuits brought by pensioners. For this scenario, the prevailing solution – which has kept government officials busy in the past – is to pay the retroactives in three or four installments with around 400 to 600 million euros per year for the years 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027. .

3. To be returned retroactively to those who sued and those who did not file to be awarded a lump sum equal to the donation they had in the main pension with a ceiling of up to 800 euros. The cost of the proposal amounts to around 1.6 billion euros and around 1.5 million pensioners are again covered. The problem in this scenario is at the state level, since the decision 1975/2021 of the plenary session of the Court of Auditors which ruled irrevocably unconstitutional the withholding of the Pensioner Solidarity Contribution (EAS) for 2017 and 2018 ( that from 2019 it deemed it legal) automatically applies to all retirees with or without a trial. The difference with those who sued is that they are entitled retroactively for up to 5 years, whereas the general rule for everyone else is that they should get refunds for 2017 and 2018. For this reason, the amount final in 3^THE scenario is increased by 400 million euros with EAS retrospectives for all state pensioners.

Pensions: questions and answers

Which state pensioners are retroactively entitled to reimbursement of EAS deductions? Is there a separation between before and after the Katrougalos law and why?

The beneficiaries of retroactive deductions on the EAS deductions for the years 2017 and 2018 are former state pensioners, i.e. those who retired before the Katrougalou law was introduced (before 13 /5/2016). The reason why the retroactive allowances were only granted for the old ones is that the appeal to the Court of Auditors for the interruption of the PA was filed before 2016, that the first decision was issued in 2017 and irrevocably in 2021. The decisions therefore concern former retirees. New retirees from 13/5/2016 are not included in the retrospectives, on the one hand, because no appeal has been lodged or, if lodged, no decision has been rendered , and on the other hand, because the a subsequent decision of the Supreme Court (1975/2021) came to legalize the detention on the basis of the Katrougalou law in the new pensions (after May 2016) and the old ones, from 2019. In practice, former State pensioners are retroactively entitled to EAS for the years 2017 and 2018, while from 1/1/2019 the EAS reserve applies and continues to be imposed for old and new retirees.

Pensions: who pays EAS and who is entitled to it retroactively

EAS is imposed on the main pension or the sum of the main (gross) pensions above 1,400 euros.

EAS reimbursements according to the table drawn up and published by the “Insurance and Pensions” insert amount to 6,486 euros for main pensions of 1,425 euros to 2,815 euros (gross).

The vast majority of state pensioners belong to this category. For larger gross amounts of main pensions received by retirees on special payrolls (judiciary, academics, NHS doctors, HEI-TEI professors), the retroactive amounts are above 7,000 euros.

Pensioners from the private sector, with pensions above 1,400 euros, do not benefit from retroactive EAS benefits, as the Council of State has judged it, together with the other pension reductions of the first memorandum (Law 3845/ 2010), constitutional.

Pensions: Retrospective up to 6,484 euros depending on the pension

According to the table drawn up in the “Insurance and Pensions” insert, the retroactive EAS to which State pensioners are entitled are structured as follows:

1. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 2,815 euros, and 1,718 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 282 euros per month and for 23 months (February 2017-December 2018) is retroactively entitled to 6,486 euros.

2. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 2,435 euros, and 1,540 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 219 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 5,037 euros.
3. A retiree with an initial gross main pension of 2,245 euros, and 1,468 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 157 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 3,611 euros.

4. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 1,990 euros, and 1,346 euros today before taxes, has an EAS reservation of 119 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 2,737 euros.

5. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 1,795 euros, and 1,316 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 108 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 2,484 euros.

6. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 1,665 euros, and 1,273 euros today before tax, has an EAS reservation of 50 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 1,150 euros.

7. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 1,535 euros, and 1,197 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 46 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 1,058 euros.
8. A pensioner with an initial gross main pension of 1,425 euros, and 1,144 euros today excluding tax, has an EAS reservation of 25 euros per month and is retroactively entitled to 575 euros.

Retrospectives for former EAS State retirees

575

1. Gross amount before Memorandum cuts

2. Amount of pension after all deductions, before tax and personal difference.

EAS is returned to pensioners before May 2016, according to the decision of the Court of Auditors

24 municipalities and dozens of villages were left without ATMs

Moody’s: Greece is set to see one of the largest debt reductions in the world