The opposition intends to wind up its petition against the government's controversial plans to intervene into the reformed pension system on Friday at noon, informed a member of the petition committee Iveta Radicova from the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU). "After the final check, we would like to hand in the papers to Parliament on Tuesday next week," she said. More than 100,000 people signed the petition. As Mrs. Radicova further informed, the petition committee will turn to the Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paska and other coalition partners and ask them to consider the results of the petition action and postpone the government's amendment to the law on social insurance until the next parliamentary session.
The petition includes eight requirements addressed to Parliament, the President, the Cabinet and the Labor Ministry. One of the requirements is a guarantee by constitutional law that changes are not adopted that could worsen the position of pensioners, and that no changes that would be to the detriment of savers are made to the second (capitalization) pillar of the pension system. The petition also aims to prevent a decrease in the current amount of pension-saving payments and an increase in transfers to pension insurance funds. Other requirements include the preservation of early retired pensioners' right to work along with drawing their pension, as well as the payment of state contributions to the second pillar for persons on maternity leave and disabled persons. The minimum savings period necessary to the exercise of the right to old-age and early retirement pension should not be prolonged from its current ten years to fifteen years.
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