Pension reform bill started in Parliament
The lower house passed today bill on a pensions that will gradually increase the retirement age to 65 years and extend the obligatory social insurance from 25 to 35 years. But the Czech Republic does not yet follow the rules similar to ones of its western neighboors.
The government-proposed bill successfully passed only through the first reading and is furter strongly opposed by the leftist opposition and labour unions.
The lower house is to take its definitive vote on the bill by June. The upper house is to deal with it in the autumn. If passed by both houses of parliament, the bill would yet to be signed into law by President Vaclav Klaus. The law would take effect as from 2010.
The retirement age in the Czech Republic has been gradually raised since the mid-1990s. Under the current law, it is to stop at 63. At present men retire at the age of about 61, childless women at the age of 60 and mothers earlier, according to the number of children.
The centre-right government of the ODS, the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the Greens has divided the pension reform into three stages that should be completed by the 2010 general election.
The first stage is based on the bill that the Chamber approved today. The second stage would concern changes in optional pension insurance and the third would introduce the possibility of saving in funds, on the basis of individual pension accounts.
The government coalition and opposition were to reach agreement on the pension reforms by last Christmas, but the negotiations practically collapsed.
(Czech News Agency)
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