Pensions: Switzerland votes against leaving at 66, but for a 13th month of pension
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The Swiss also face a pension reform. The country, whose aging population is facing a rising cost of living, ruled this Sunday on two crucial proposals for retirees: a 13th month pension and raising the retirement age. According to projections made by Swiss media The weather and the RTS, 75% of Swiss voted against the proposal to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 years. On the other hand, 58% voted for a thirteenth month of pension. This initiative is also accepted in a majority of cantons, a prerequisite for its adoption.
Monthly Swiss social security pensions are capped at 2,450 Swiss francs (2,570 euros) for a single person and 3,675 francs for a married couple, in a country regularly ranked among the most expensive in the world. In the city, the rent for a three-room apartment is at least 3,000 francs (3,150 euros). A coffee costs more than five francs. If the Swiss give the green light to this change, they will not be the first in Europe: neighboring Liechtenstein, another expensive country that uses the Swiss franc, implemented a similar system several years ago.
“A crisis of purchasing power”
“There is, like everywhere, a purchasing power crisis in Switzerland. The standard of living of retirees is eroding,” explains Pierre-Yves Maillard, president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (SGB) who campaigned for the “yes” vote. Jakob Hauri, a retiree cited by the “yes” campaign, is of the same opinion: “The cost of living is skyrocketing”, and the pension fund, “supposed to guarantee the subsistence minimum, is not keeping up”. Left-wing parties supported the initiative, but it was fiercely opposed by right-wing and centrist parties. The government and Parliament were also opposed to it.
The government had claimed the proposed increase would cost more than four billion Swiss francs a year, warning it would require tax increases and could threaten the financial stability of the social security system. He also estimated that the proposed change, for all retirees regardless of their financial situation, would only bring limited social benefit. “If the initiative is adopted, many retirees will receive a 13th social security payment even if they do not really need it,” the federal authorities argued.
The UDC, the radical right and the country’s leading party, had warned that this “irresponsible” initiative would allow freeloaders to exhaust the system. This party campaigned for the no vote with the help of advertisements, including one showing 100 franc notes sucked into a manhole.
A majority of the 26 cantons
Arguments which bore fruit: in the latest survey carried out by gfs.bern for the public channel SSR, 53% of those questioned declared that they supported the initiative, while 43% were opposed to it, while a month earlier 61% of respondents were in favor. To be validated, the initiative must not only win the popular vote but also a majority in at least half of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.
Voters also voted on a proposal from the youth wing of the Liberal Party to gradually raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 over the next decade, in order to ensure the sustainability of financing of the pension system. This vote came less than two years after Swiss voters narrowly decided to raise the retirement age for women from 64 to 65, as for men. Most people voted in advance during the country’s regular polls.
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