On Wednesday the Government greenlighted €500 bonuses for seniors in order to motivate them to get vaccinated. However, the motion does not yet state exactly where seniors will be able to spend the money. According to the author of the idea, Finance Minister Igor Matovic, there is still time to clinch a detailed and thorough agreement on how the bonus vouchers will work. The declared aim is to have everyone aged above 60 registered for inoculation by Christmas. The details are likely to be fleshed out in Parliament "so that no one will slip through the net," added the minister on Wednesday. Seniors already vaccinated with the third booster shot will be automatically able to claim the bonus. As for garnering support for the bill in Parliament, Matovic is rather pessimistic. His proposal does not have supporters even among the coalition partners.
Motivating seniors with €500 bonuses to be vaccinated would turn the vaccines against COVID-19 into a dead stock in need of excessive support in order to accomplish their purpose, stated Economy Minister Richard Sulik of the junior Freedom and Solidarity party on Wednesday. His party will therefore either abstain or vote against the bill.
When considering €500 motivational bonuses for seniors, the state should take into account also behavioral aspects and make sure that the bonuses will be one-off only and their implementation carried out in a timely and cost-effective fashion. This stems from a statement by the Council for Budgetary Responsibility, which recommends the assessment of the measure by the Finance Ministry's Value for Money Office. In case the pandemic situation deteriorates, the council believes that the Government should continue providing the one-off targeted benefit also beyond the scope of the budgeted aid. The analyst pointed out that the one-time benefit does not influence the permanent, so-called structural, deficit and thus does not significantly undermine the long-term sustainability of public resources. However, the Council for Budgetary Responsibility also identified shortcomings in the proposal. "It lacks clearly defined aims, which the measure aspires to accomplish. No analytical data have been presented to justify the proposed sum, and thus determine the extent to which the proposal provides the "best value for money"," reads the text.
