certain is that supplementary pensions will suf-
fer continuous downward adjustments until
2023, since the funds’ deficits will not be
reduced any sooner than that, as predicted by
the studies of the Ministry of Labour. This is
why the law also includes a suspension
clause, which prohibits any pension increases
if the difference between revenues and
expenses exceeds 0.5% of contribution rev-
enues.
7. Altered the calculation of one-off pension
benefits in the public sector.
A new system is
established, which effectively returns to public
sector workers the contributions paid for the
years they worked from 2014 onwards. For the
years they worked up to December 31, 2013,
public sector workers will receive the one-off
benefit they are entitled to on the basis of their
average earnings for the period 2009-2013.
The new system leads to a further decrease of
the one-off benefit, which is equal to 1%-1.5%
per year for the amount that corresponds to
the years of work from 2014 onwards. The
one-off benefits paid by public sector, as well
as other pension funds, have already under-
gone a cumulative reduction of 38%, as a
result of previous reforms.
8. Abolished EKAS.
By means of Law 4387, the
government decided to gradually abolish one
of the most popular welfare assistance bene-
fits paid to low-income pensioners –the
Pensioners Social Solidarity Benefit (EKAS)–
by phasing out both the amount payable and
the number of beneficiaries. This phasing-out
began in mid-2016, through the establishment
of stricter means-testing criteria, and contin-
ued in 2017 with the 50% reduction of the
EKAS paid to all beneficiaries. The number of
low-income pensioners that receive the EKAS
has been reduced from 370,000 to fewer than
210,000, and will be reduced to zero by the
end of 2019. This assistance is paid to people
with pensions of up to 664 euros per month
and its amount ranges from 29 to 115 euros
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