Poland plans to cut pensions for communist-era security officers
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
12.07.2016 13:00
Poland has unveiled plans to cut pensions for former officers of the country’s feared communist-era security services.
Mariusz Błaszczak. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Tuesday presented details of a bill under which the maximum pension for former Security Service (SB) officers will be no higher than the average payout for pensioners - PLN 2,131 (EUR 482, USD 535) a month.
Sickness benefits will be capped at PLN 1,610 a month.
Błaszczak said: “This is an expression of social justice. [Former] officers of the Security Service and the power apparatus of the repressive communist state still have high pensions and sickness benefits. The bill corrects these errors," said Błaszczak.
He added: “We want to bring about a situation where a sense of justice triumphs in society. We don’t agree to officers of the apparatus of oppression receiving such high payouts for choking the freedom, independence of our country."
Błaszczak added that it was “very realistic" for the changes to come into force from next year.
Błaszczak is a member of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government. The PiS party swept to power in Poland’s general elections last October. Many PiS members were part of the democratic opposition to the country’s communist regime, which fell in 1989. (pk)