Bulgarian Govt Proposes to Raise Retirement Age by Four Months Annually
Revising its earlier plans for pension system changes, Bulgaria's government proposed that retirement age in the country increase by four months annually until it reaches 63 years for women and 65 years for men.
The decision of the ruling centre-right party GERB is expected to be put to the vote before the budget committee in parliament, local daily Dnevnik reported.
The trade unions, however, turned down the proposal and reiterated their threats for a general strike. They also announced they will not participate in Friday's meeting with government members and representatives of the employer organisations, the so called three-partite council.
The trade unions claim GERB has backed out from an earlier proposal to start raising the retirement age for first and second labour category workers as of 2015.