Experts, politicians: Change in pension law will put additional strain on state budget

Some politicians and experts have warned that a change in pension law, following a recent decision by the Constitutional Court, will most likely lead to a significant increase in state expenses. In a debate program on Czech public television on Sunday, former finance minister Miroslav Kalousek said that the change in pension law that the court verdict calls for should be implemented as part of a general pension reform. The head of the Association of Pension Funds of the Czech Republic said that the change in law will affect tens of thousands of pension recipients. In an interview for Saturday’s edition of the daily Právo, the head of the Constitutional Court said that the verdict would not lead to significant added expenses for the state, since it only affected about 8000 recipients of pension. The Constitutional Court ruled last week that the current calculation of pensions for higher income earners was unconstitutional.