SP.A’s new pension proposal based on years worked

Sonja Becq of the Flemish socialist party (SP.A) presented a proposal yesterday to change the pension system by scrapping the right to a pension at 65 years in favour of the award of a pension after 42 years of work. “More and more people are agreeing with the idea that the number of years worked is more important than age,” Becq said on her Twitter account.

The Greens have proposed an alternative system in which everyone would be awarded a basic pension of €1,000, plus a supplement for each year worked. Meanwhile, N-VA wants to keep the retirement age at 65 but with higher or lower rates depending on the number of years worked.

The one certainty in the debate is that the system is going to have to be overhauled in the coming years to take account of the changing population. Federal pensions minister Alexander De Croo agrees that the system will have to change, but he says he wants to defer a decision until later this year when he has looked at the figures compiled by the Pension Reform Committee 2020-2040.