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The Retirement Age May Raise to 67 Years in Belarus, Lawyer Says

The Retirement Age May Raise to 67 Years in Belarus, Lawyer Says

The retirement age can be equal for men and women.

Since 2017, the retirement age in Belarus has been constantly increasing. As of today, it is 61.5 years for men and 56.5 years for women, and in three years it will reach 63 and 58 years, respectively.

However, economists believe for 30-year-old Belarusians, working now, to receive pensions, it is necessary to either fundamentally reform the pension system or to further increase the retirement age both for men and women.

What way will the authorities take? Former judge of the Constitutional Court of Belarus, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor Mikhail Pastukhou, answers the questions of Charter97.org:

- I guess the authorities will choose a rather easy and suitable way for them: to further increase the retirement age.

I believe this way is too primitive. It does not represent the interests of pensioners. Of course, the retirement age in the EU countries is now 65 years for men and women.

But such factors as the level of income of working and retired people in Europe and Belarus and the life expectancy in these countries after retirement should be taken into account.

As for the second point, Belarusians for some reason "do not want to live long" after the retirement. Especially it is true for men. According to gerontologists, a man in Belarus lives another seven years after retirement.

Men usually pass away after the age of 70 - it's very little compared to other European countries. In Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium, men live on average up to 85-90 years old. This is the norm.

Our pensioners do not live long due to our standard of living, habits and illnesses. Therefore, this is blasphemy to increase the retirement age. Then people are deprived of the right to life after retirement. That is, there is no life after retirement in Belarus.

Instead of raising the retirement age, the state should make efforts, to improve the life of people to make it equal to living in the EU countries. Secondly, salaries and pensions need growth by 2-3 times for them to be as high as in Europe.

I also want to draw attention to the huge gap in the size of pensions of different categories of citizens of Belarus. If the majority of the population receives pensions and benefits from the so-called "treasury box" (pension fund with permanent shortage of funds due to inability of loss-making state-owned enterprises to make contributions), the other part of the population - civil servants, "deputies," the military, police, security forces - receive pensions from the state budget. They receive pensions 2-3 times higher than others. At that, they need 20 years of service to get a pension.

That is, their position is privileged in comparison with other citizens, who have to accumulate insurance experience. Now it equals 17 years. It is a very high figure because this is the period one is subject to insurance contributions to receive a full retirement pension.

This is a true injustice and a violation of the equality principle between employees. Somehow we need to unify the retirement conditions and the size of pensions. This huge gap between pensions should be eliminated. To do that, one needs to restore the benefits to pensioners illegally taken away by the authorities. This is a major difference between Belarusian pensioners and their colleagues in Russia and Ukraine. They preserved almost all the benefits. They include the right to travel for free in public transport, substantial benefits for medicines, benefits for housing and communal services, etc.

In addition, along with state subsidies, it is necessary to expand funded pensions and equalize the number of pensions for different categories of citizens. In particular, to deprive pensioners, who now receive pensions from the state budget, of unreasonable advantages.

Our pensioners are as good as pensioners in Germany, France, Poland and so on.

- Some economists believe that the absence of fundamental reforms of the pension system in future may deprive Belarusians 30-35 year old without pensions. What do you think about it?

- This is a problem. Nowadays, society is getting very old, and except for the younger generation, one third of the population in Belarus is pensioners.

This indicates the need for pension reform and additional sources of income for future pensioners. We shouldn't rely on the state to provide for us to death and bury us at its own expense. It is necessary to extensively use saving funds, to make contributions to the future pension from the earnings of employees. This is done, for example, in Lithuania - all persons over 40 years are subject to contributions to the fund of their future pension.

In addition, the introduction of additional sources to replenish the pension fund is needed. There is an example: annually Belarus raises $3-3.5 billion on the resale of Russian oil. No one in Belarus can say how this money is spent. Why cannot we use this profit to develop the pension fund?

There are enough such examples when it is not clear how the money is used. Why does Belarus need such a huge army of 60 thousand people? Why do we waste such huge sums? Why do we need so many police officers?

Therefore, there are enough funds to double an average salary and pensions. That is, there are many ways to replenish the pension fund. Only the will of the persons responsible is needed.

Therefore, I believe that our society should initiate pension reform. I know about the "Our Generation" initiative group, which operates since 2008. The authorities refuse to register organizations of pensioners.

Once Uladzimir Ramanouski wanted to create a party of pensioners to try to solve the problems. But the state rejects all these initiatives to mend the situation of pensioners. This problem requires more attention of society and the state should be forced to take appropriate measures. Will and determination to mend the situation is the key. Opportunities and means will be found.

- You note that representatives of law enforcement agencies retire very early. At what age do you think they should retire?

- I stand for raising the retirement age for the security forces. But, of course, the specialization should be taken into account.

Let's take the police. Some employees are busy with work day and night - criminal investigation, for example. They are worth of concessions and reductions.

But many employees work as much as civilians. They involve the teaching staff of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Visa Service Department, and the Juvenile Liaison Office. Such positions can be made civilian. They do not necessarily need the rank, as this automatically increases their salaries.

That is, this issue requires a selective and strict approach. I believe that to save money, at least one third of employees should be transferred to the civil service. So many men should not be tempted by the uniform and high salaries.

I guess this is a huge minus for the current government. It wants to dress all strong men in uniform, giving them good wages and preferential conditions for retirement.

- Labour Minister Iryna Kastsevich said that the retirement age for women had to be equalized with that for men. Is this scenario reliable?

- I think that this is almost an obvious step on the part of the authorities - to try to equalize men and women in age, based on the life expectancy of women after retirement. This is possible.

When retiring, some circumstances should be taken into account. For example, 2-3 or more children should provide for certain easing.

A kind of work of a woman should only make a difference. She may work in harmful conditions. Again, it requires earlier retirement.

The care for the elderly, which can be equated with the length of service, is another aspect. Therefore, not everybody is subject to retirement at the age of 65. This issue needs an individual approach.

It will serve as a certain incentive. It will be fair. I think that the equal retirement age for men and women will be accepted soon enough.

- If the reforms are not implemented, how much will the retirement age be raised?

- I guess it will be 65 and 58 years old. The next step will be the alignment of the retirement age. The retirement age for men can be increased in the interests of the authorities.

That is, the maximum age that this government can afford - 67 years for men, 65 - for women, given that this government will run the country for long.

- How do you think the pension reform should be carried out for Belarusians to have a decent pension after a life-long work?

- The law on pension should be thoroughly developed. The length of service is the key determiner. To make a pension equal to the salary received.

Some countries practice such a scheme. For example, after 40 years of experience, the pension is equal to the salary in France. At the same time, it needs the introduction of additional sources of pension formation in addition to state subsidies.

It may include large deductions from employees, employers, as well as from various funds, which should be constantly replenished at the expense of state-owned enterprises that export products.

It is necessary to create equal retirement conditions for all categories of citizens to eliminate a budget- or pension fund-based pensions. The Swedish one has a good reputation in this concern.

Some models may serve as a ground, taking into account the Belarusian peculiarities so that pensioners could live a decent and respectful life and the state could not try to get rid of them.

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