The 360,000 outstanding pension claims are a financial bomb

Retirement pensions affect the budget deficit after the approval of the request, which means that when people come to retirement and the government delays the processing of applications the primary surplus records a plasmatic increase

The much heralded success of the primary surplus is, to a significant extent, a product of creative accounting, as evidenced by the response of Commissioner Rehn to a question from the Drasi president and MEP Theodoros Skilakakis for outstanding pension claims and the calculation of the Greek deficit. He even assures that thousands of pending applications for early retirement will not be accepted.

Skilakakis had previously asked the Commission about the issue of fiscal policy resulting from whether the outstanding pension rights in Greece, (approaching 360,000 pending applications) are included in the deficit of the years to which they relate.

The Committee had replied that the Greek authorities are the ones to provide sound fiscal and statistical information. Skilakakis returned, asking where are the relevant financial forecasts for the outstanding pension rights included and how much they burden the general government deficit for 2012 and 2013.

Commissioner Rehn replied that "in accordance with the financial statistical rules of ESA, retirement affects the budget deficit after the approval of the request," which means that when people come to retirement and the government delays the processing of their applications, then primary surplus records a plasmatic increase as the government’s are obligations for 2012 and 2013 are just postponed for the coming years.

Rehn also said that "part of the pending applications is due to the fact that the retirement age increased by 2 years from January 1, 2013. This led to outstanding pension claims on behalf of those who applied for a pension without having reached the new age limit. These applications will not be approved, thus will have no financial impact."