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President Gitanas Nausėda, who met with older people in Tauragė, also criticized the idea of a 13th pension.
The elderly Eugenija, who retired a decade ago, markets honey from her apiary in the Panevėžys market. It also sells bees tar, bread, and beeswax candles. The woman says this is a great way to contribute to a pension of only 350 euros:
“We need to contribute to the pension. And what to do? Didn’t you sit at home? Should I retire alone? – Well, then you would count. Would you count more.”
The beekeeper Eugenia is no exception. It turns out that one in ten people over the age of 65 works in Lithuania. Additionally, some of the following older adults are rushing to meet President Gitanas Nausėda in Tauragė today:
“I play in a light music orchestra in this cultural center. I contribute 120 euros. Now I get 400 with kopecks. I am a beekeeper. I still add a third to my pension. He would have received 1000 euros, which would be a decent pension. And I would see abroad and go everywhere. Both to the cinema and to the theater. Everywhere. And now nothing. Just find enough cereal, pasta, and bread. “
And this is not a good life. The highest risk of poverty is found in the age group 65 years and over and reaches around 30 percent, because the vast majority of the country’s retirees, more than 217 thousand, have to survive on a pension of 300-400 euros.
“As a result, our retirees try as much as possible to go to any job, I would even say, so that they can only be stabbed and, well, you can say that they are not starving,” says Inga Ruginienė, president of the Trade Union Confederation.
Retiree poverty is the eye of hunger, and lo and behold, the thirteenth retirement promised by the rulers fuels passions.
Just a week and a half before the elections, members of the Polish election campaign offered to pay each senior 200 euros each December before the winter holidays. And although the rulers agreed.
Skvernell’s government finance minister, on the eve of the budget deliberation, said such a financial burden was excessive. Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis did not say a word in watts.
“The Ministry of Finance will present the draft budget without the 13th pension, because it would be unsustainable to finance additional long-term liabilities with borrowed funds,” says Finance Minister Vilius Šapoka.
“It is not the Minister of Finance, but the Government of the Republic of Lithuania that decides what the state budget will be,” says Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis.
“That is why I am the Minister of Finance, so I would coldly evaluate all proposals, whether they are from the president, the Seimas or members of the Government,” said V. Šapoka.
“If such a law is passed, then it will be the 13th pension, and the government’s task will be to find the finances to finance this pension,” says S. Skvernelis.
“The Finance Minister is responsible for ensuring that Lithuania’s budget is executed and that we do not have a debt that we cannot service. The Prime Minister, in my opinion, expresses a fundamental lack of respect for the Finance Minister. This raises me the question, why does he need that Minister of Finance, if he knows everything himself? ”says the conservative Ingrida Šimonytė.
However, the idea of a thirteenth pension is criticized both by economists and by the president himself, who argues that pensions should continue to be indexed.
“The thirteenth pension is a less adequate solution to the problem, since it is entered as an absolute amount for everyone, regardless of the amount of the pension. This is an unsustainable solution, as it is a lump sum payment that has all the characteristics of a lump sum payment ”, says the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda.
“If we were completely honest, we would say that we do not have the money that we promise. And probably, I do not know, a thirteenth tax should be introduced for workers. Say:” Sorry, be nice, but that month we take 100 euros from the Christmas table to all of you, because we don’t have that money, they are on loan, “said economist Sigismund Mauricas.
It is estimated that the thirteenth pension would require 120-180 million euros per year and would benefit some 600,000 people.
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