Découverte de l’économie - Cité de l'Économie et de la Monnaie

Explicit cookie consent GREEK pensions have been a source of acrimony since the first bail-out five years ago. Germans in particular, who were being asked to retire later, resented having to help what they regarded as feckless Greeks, many of whom were drawing pensions in their 50s. Yet since then there have been two major reforms, pushing the statutory retirement age up from 60 for women and 65 for men to 67, while pension benefits have been cut. One reason was the dire starting-point. In part this reflected an especially generous set of benefits, which provided the highest “replacement rate” (of earnings before retirement) for public pensions among the OECD club of 30 or so mainly rich countries before the euro crisis, in 2008. Indeed, those working in strenuous occupations for 25 years and contributing overall for 35 years could retire as early as 55. Reforms in July 2010 and November 2012 did much to put the pension system on a sustainable footing for the long-term.