Labour minister: President’s hesitation will cost treasury 4 billion crowns

The president’s hesitation in signing into force a bill tightening the conditions for early retirement and the subsequent one-month delay in bringing it into force will cost the state  treasury up to 4 billion crowns,  Labour Minister Marian Jurečka said on Czech Television. Thousands of Czechs close to retirement age scrambled to file for early retirement over the summer under more advantageous conditions and Jurečka said their numbers could increase by another 10,000 in October. Originally the government hoped to enforce the new legislation from September 1st.

The president was hesitant to sign the bill, arguing that in times of high inflation the newly-proposed indexation of pensions could be more costly than the present arrangement and criticizing the decision to cut the possibility of early retirement from five to three years ahead of the projected date as “too abrupt”. Nevertheless, he eventually put his signature to it, saying it was “a step in the right direction”.