Thousands of Czechs opt to retire early ahead of tighter pensions law

An increasing number of Czechs have opted to go into early retirement ahead of a new law that will make it significantly less advantageous to do so. The Czech Social Security Administration registered over 20,000 applications for early retirement in June and July - and expects similar numbers for August.  The number of applications in the first eight months of this year is similar to the number for the whole of last year. From October, the rules for early retirement will become significantly stricter. People will no longer be able to retire five but only to three years ahead of the projected date and the financial penalty for each year will be higher.