Polish president encourages putting off retirement
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
11.05.2017 14:14
The Polish president has launched a campaign encouraging people to put off retirement ahead of the country’s adoption of a lower retirement age later this year.
Photo: stevepb/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons
President Andrzej Duda said the old-age pension was a right and not an obligation, adding that employees should be able to choose when they leave the workforce, as most people will still be fit for work after they hit the retirement age.
“The legal retirement age is not as important, what is really important is the effective age of retirement and that age is … individualised,” Duda said.
He explained that the “effective retirement age” depended on a person’s beliefs, family needs, health, and choice.
The “Dignified Choice” campaign is an initiative of the president, Poland’s labour ministry, and the country’s largest trade union, Solidarność, and it will run until June.
Labour Minister Elżbieta Rafalska said the campaign will allow people to compare their monthly pensions if they retire at the new legal age, which is 60 for women and 65 for men, or at a later date.
Lowering the age of retirement was a key pledge by the conservative Law and Justice party ahead of October 2015 elections which saw the party sweep to power on a wave of spending and welfare promises.
The previous government, let by the Civic Platform (PO) party, introduced in 2013 the gradual increase of the retirement age to 67 for both men and women. (vb)