President Pavel signs amendment to pensions law

President Petr Pavel has signed a proposed amendment to the pensions law despite having reservations about it. The amendment is expected to tighten the rules on early pensions and slow down the regular January pension indexation.According to the proposal, the current pension hikes stemming from inflation would be replaced by a temporary increase.

The president is critical of the newly-proposed indexation of pensions, arguing that in times of high inflation it could be more costly than the present arrangement and also sees as problematic the decision to cut the possibility of early retirement from five to three years ahead of the projected date. Nevertheless, he said he signed the changes since they were a step in the right direction.

The Senate approved the bill on August 23 and the government had planned for it to come into force on September 1, which is no longer possible.