EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/650

(2004/C 78 E/0691)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3818/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 December 2003)

Subject: Conditions for awarding pensions in Greece

Pensioners in Greece have complained that in all the other EU Member States the main criterion for awarding a pension is the advent of the so-called ‘insurance risk’, namely the time when the citizens reach a certain age at which the normal risks associated with ageing appear. This is apparently not the case in Greece, where the basic criterion for each citizen is completion of a minimum number of years of employment (evidenced by contribution records).

They complain in particular that throughout the rest of the European Union each citizen acquires pension rights as soon as he reaches a certain age and the size of his pension is strictly proportionate to the number of years of employment (however few), which is not the case in Greece.

One of the results of this state of affairs is that a fair number of very elderly Greek women (who have no contribution records to show, since they spent their whole lives bringing up children in the family and housekeeping) receive no pension at all, if, for example, their spouse receives a monthly pension of the order of EUR 600. More generally, it should be pointed out that Greek pensions are the lowest in the European Union, with very broad categories of pensioner (almost 90 %) receiving a monthly pension of less than EUR 500, and other categories (for instance taxi drivers and others) receiving pensions of EUR 300 or less.

Will the Commission say whether the criteria applied in Greece for awarding pensions are completely in line with Community legislation? Do citizens in the other EU Member States receive a minimum pension with the advent of the so-called ‘insurance risk’, i.e. when they reach a given age, regardless of their contribution records? Will it provide a breakdown of these minimum pensions in the other 14 Member States? Do pensioners in the other EU Member States receive pensions strictly proportionate to their employment contributions (however few) when they reach a certain age? Will it give an analytical table of this age in the other 14 Member States? Is it in line with Community legislation that very elderly Greek citizens should not be entitled to any pension at all, even though they have made employment contributions (albeit few)? Under EU legislation could they claim a pension — however small — in proportion to their contributions?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2004)

The design of pension systems falls within the responsibilities of the Member States. Union law on social protection concerns only very limited aspects such as the rights of people who move from one Member State to another and equal treatment of men and women (with certain exceptions still holding as regards the retirement age and survivors' benefits). There is no Union legislation on the link between contribution payments and benefit entitlements.

The design of statutory pension schemes differs widely across the Union. Some countries pay a flat-rate pension from the age of 65 (in Denmark and the Netherlands this is based on residence, in Ireland on contributions). In most Member States, pensions are linked to insured earnings with a tendency to take into account increasingly long earnings histories. There are, however, a number of ways in which statutory pension schemes deviate from strict insurance principles. Minimum contribution periods may be required before an entitlement to a pension is earned (thus in some cases, contributions may remain without a counterpart in terms of benefits); on the other hand, certain periods without contribution payments (unemployment, illness, career breaks for family reasons, education periods) may be recognised as equivalent to pensionable employment periods. Earnings or contribution related statutory pension schemes often also guarantee a minimum pension level.

Details on such features in national pension systems can be found in the publication ‘Missoc — Social Protection in the Member States and the European Economic Area’ (1) and in the Joint Report by the Commission and the Council on Adequate and Sustainable Pensions of March 2003 (2). The latter contains in particular tables on the retirement age (table 7) and on minimum income guarantees for older people (table 1).

(1) http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/missoc/index_en.html

(2) http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/pensions/index_en.htm