Higher Retirement Age? This is What the ÖVP Says

ÖVP parliamentary group leader August Wöginger rejects calls for a higher statutory retirement age. "With us, there will be no increase in the statutory retirement age," he said in an interview with APA - for the ÖVP, this is "not an issue." Georg Knill, president of the Federation of Austrian Industries, had called for an increase to 70 or 68 years. Harald Mahrer, president of the Chamber of Commerce and the ÖVP Economic Association, also expressed a desire to discuss it.

ÖVP Comments on Pension Issues

They stand by what was agreed and are raising the actual retirement age, Wöginger said. He stated this to everyone who holds a different opinion - "no matter where they are from, and there is no collective punishment for the People's Party." The increase in the actual retirement age is supposed to work through pension reform - for example, the partial pension passed by the National Council on Thursday will bring more employment, the parliamentary group leader was convinced. This allows older employees to receive part of their pension while continuing to work reduced hours.

Sustainability Mechanism Possible

If a spending cap is not adhered to by 2030, the new sustainability mechanism will also come into effect. A future government will then have to implement new measures - for example, increasing the insurance years for the corridor pension, "which we are already doing," said Wöginger. The next government could then also increase the statutory retirement age, but that is only one of many possibilities.

The coalition partner NEOS expressed "surprise" that the ÖVP is not approaching the issue with an open mind. In the sustainability mechanism, a mix of measures is possible, including raising the retirement age, wrote social spokesperson Johannes Gasser on X. Experts have long been demanding this. The Federation of Austrian Industries also called for a factual and solution-oriented discourse in a statement. "Anyone who reflexively excludes an increase in the statutory retirement age among several options is refusing an honest engagement with the facts," it said, referring to the strong growth in pension expenditures.

Kemperle Against Higher Statutory Retirement Age

The situation is different with the Trade Union Federation (ÖGB): Pensioners' chairwoman Monika Kemperle emphasized her rejection of an increase in the statutory retirement age. The discussion is socially unjust in a labor market reality where many cannot remain healthy until retirement. Moreover, the increase would "massively exacerbate old-age poverty, long-term unemployment, and health problems." However, she praised the partial pension as an "important step for more social security in old age."

(APA/Red)

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