A protest rally outside the Ministry of Finance on Monday by the retirees. On the initiative of the Unified Network of Pensioners (ENDISY), 10 other organisations decided to join forces to protest jointly to the Government. The main area of friction is the taxation of retroactive payments which was reduced last year for about 1 million pensioners. Their representatives believe they should not have been taxed, for amounts paid to them without interest and five years in arrears, while recalling that the court decisions issued for these retroactive payments, award the amounts to the beneficiaries in interest and even with 6% interest on an annual basis.
On the contrary, now pensioners will have to repay around 33% of the amounts they received last year. In total, the Network estimates that pensioners are asked to pay, either once or by arrangement, an amount of €431 million. On top of all this came the Prime Minister's announcement, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a week ago, on the granting of a EUR 250 allowance to pensioners, to further enrage them.
As they say, this amount, according to the criteria that have been leaked that will apply, will be granted only to those who receive a main pension close to the level of 450 euros, gross earnings, leaving out more than 2/3 of pensioners, which, in a period of accuracy and revaluations, causes strong discontent.
