“For the first time we will have one speed pensioners,” Labour Minister Giorgos Katrougalos on Friday said in a press conference on social security reforms trying to defend the new draft law.

He added that the memorandum along with the peculiarities of the system and the PSI are the three main reasons why social security reforms are required, while he also blamed the previous governments about the current situation of the social security system.

Mr. Katrougalos referred to wrong information on the proposed reforms ensuring that certain categories of people such as freelancers will be protected, who will be called to pay 6.5% of their contribution while 13.5% will be paid by their employers, as usual.

He also admitted that farmers will be called to raise a heavy burden and this is why social security contribution hike will be made gradually.