Socialist leader calls for better pension system

Budapest, November 23 (MTI) – Pensioners should feel safe not vulnerable, and they should feel proud not poor, opposition Socialist Party leader Gyula Molnár said on Wednesday.

The Socialists see issues around Hungary’s 2.7 million pensioners as cardinal, he told the conference on the sustainability of the pension system organised by the Friedrich Ebert and Táncsics Mihály foundations.

A third of the Hungarian population is of pension age, and the government is failing to support pensioners adequately, given that only every tenth forint is turned to this segment of society, Molnar insisted.

The government “stole 3 trillion forints” from the pension fund to help pay off government debt, so any future government must compensate for it, the Socialist leader said.

A new sustainable pension system is needed, he said, arguing that pension hikes should not be tied to inflation. Further, a mixed pension system should be reintroduced, he said.

Pensioners should be handled not purely as a social issue or in terms of health care. Rather, policymaking should recognise that many elderly want to stay active, he said.