Hundreds of thousands of Greek pensioners awaiting their monthly retirement benefits are left stranded without funds that they are eligible for. There are currently 330,000 pending pension requests for main and auxiliary pensions and 61,000 lump sum payments outstanding. Social Security funds, however, are unable to proceed with their files.

Outstanding retirement benefits, according to figures from the Union for the Support of Employment and the Social State (ENYPEKK), are:

1) 173,000 requests for main pension benefits at approximately 2 bln euros of which 80,000 applications are from the Social Security Organization of Greece (IKA), 33,000 are from the Freelancer Insurance Organization (OAEE), 30,000 from the Organization of Agricultural Insurance (OGA), 15,000 from the public sector and 15,000 from other funds for main pension benefits.

2) 130,000 applications for auxiliary pensions, 126,000 from ΙΚΑ and 5,000 from other auxiliary funds valued at a total cost of 600 million euros.

3) 25,000 applications for retirement dividends at a total cost of 100,000 mln euros.

4) 61,000 applications for lump sum payments valued at a total of 1.8 billion euros.