New pensioners who submitted an application for a pension from January 1, 2015, will pay for the 7-month negotiation delays of the outgoing Radical Left Coaliton (SYRIZA) government. Social Security Funds are expected to yield 4-bln-euro deficts per annum over the coming years, meaning that the tightening of social security reforms pertaining to Law 3863/2010 will need to be completed by 2030 instead of 2050.

New pensions will be reduced in three ways:

a) Pensioners will receive their butchered payments at the extended retirment age of 67 years depending on their contributions. 360 euros per month will only be offered to pensioners if they receive no additional income. The amount lost will be based on the year of pension application with pensioners submitting their paperwork in 2016 receiving 57-euro per month cuts, 64 euros per month for those applying in 2017, 71 euros for those applying in 2018 and so forth. National pensions will be funded exclusively from taxation and will only be offered to pensioners living under the poverty level that currently stands at 432 euros per month.

b) New pension rules may also include further reductions of contributions being used in the evaluation of pensions. Changes to the method of calculation and rates could result in as much as 20% being shrunk from pensions.

c) The majority of workers’ incomes have slid over the last five years, hence the current rule that takes the best five years of a ten-year period no longer providing a safety valve for workers. Due to this pensioners will see reductions from 10-15%. Changes already discussed with Greece’s lenders (EC, ECB, IMF and ESM) mean that pensions around 1,000 euros per month will automatically be reduced to 750 euros per month.