Auxiliary pensions to rise by over 50 euros per month

Nearly half a million pensioners stand to see an average increase of 52.5 euros per month in their auxiliary pensions, in accordance with recent Council of State decisions.

Labor and Social Security Minister Yiannis Vroutsis announced that 465,112 pensioners will immediately start receiving an annual increase of over 630 euros on average, having suffered a reduction since 2016 based on the Katrougalos law, named after the former labor minister who introduced the legislation. The increase of 30 percent on average will concern pensioners who used to get a total amount (main and supplementary pensions) of over 1,300 euros per month by mid-June, i.e. about one in three.

Vroutsis said the law to that effect – which will likely be submitted to Parliament in January 2020 – will apply retroactively from October 4, 2019, when the country’s highest administrative court issued its verdicts.

The annual cost of the auxiliary pension increases will amount to 292.87 million euros and will be covered by the properties of the single supplementary social security fund ETEAEP, without affecting the state budget at all. The ETEAEP assets add up to 2.57 billion euros.