Parliament overrules President on minimum pension bill

Slovak Parliament on Tuesday overruled President Andrej Kiska's veto of a bill introducing a minimum pension, adopting the amendment to the Social Insurance Act in its original form and circumnavigating the president's objections. Based on the bill, all pensioners who have paid social insurance contributions for at least 30 years will qualify for a minimum pension that will amount to €269.50 per month. The pension will be progressively higher with each additional year of payment into the social insurance system. Consequently, people who reach retirement age and have paid the respective contributions for at least 40 years will be entitled to a minimum pension of €311.30 per month. President Kiska proposed that Parliament should remove perceived discrimination from the bill, highlighting that the bill would result in lower pensions for those who had been saving for their retirement in the second, or capitalisation, pillar. Calling the arrangement "direct discrimination", Kiska referenced a ban on discrimination that is enacted in the Slovak Constitution. Several Opposition MPs have indicated that they'll appeal to the Constitutional Court over the matter.