While the national youth council was involved in the early stages of the pension reform debate, the last round of talks – that cemented government plans to increase contributions and working life spans – saw young people without a seat at the table, and they are largely unhappy with the outcome. <\/p>\n
The government met with OGBL and LCGB trade unionists as well as employer federation UEL for talks in July and September. Under the planned<\/a> outcome of the talks, to be approved by parliament, retirement contributions will rise from 24% to 25.5% of income, divided equally between employers, the state and employees. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat I don\u2019t understand is if they say that the current pension system is unsustainable, then why is there no talk of reducing the pension amounts that are paid out? Why is there no talk of reducing the year-end bonus that pensioners get, for example?\u201d asked a 28-year-old Luxembourg national working at a finance firm, who wanted to remain anonymous to avoid controversy in the workplace. <\/p>\n Young working people feel that the problem is simply being kicked further down the road, with no sustainable solution in sight. \u201cIt was already very well known in the early-to-mid \u201880s that the current pension system was not sustainable at all, but guess what – they kept it like it was to get big pensions and to not endure hard reforms while they still worked and \u2018gifted\u2019 us that problem so they don\u2019t have to deal with it,\u201d said a 34-year-old Luxembourger working in a blue-collar job.<\/p>\n Those in their 20s, 30s and 40s, for whom retirement is still decades away, also worry whether they will see any pension at all when they retire. \u201cThe government itself says the pension fund will be depleted in 2045. So when I retire, I may not get any pension. Yet they are asking me to pay more of my salary into the pension system. It\u2019s absolutely unfair,\u201d the finance professional added.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Health and Social Security told the Luxembourg Times that it is not only young people who will pay more but everyone who is currently working. <\/p>\n \u201cThe actual proposal is to increase the contribution rate by 0.5 percentage points for all active contributors to the pension scheme, so it cannot be stated that only young people are taxed,\u201d a ministry spokesperson said. The government has said that the proposed reforms will extend the life of the pension fund by four years from 2045 to 2049.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also read:Foreigners feel \u2018ignored\u2019 in Luxembourg pension reform<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Nevertheless, young people this newspaper spoke to believe that the government\u2019s proposal is fundamentally biased against those in their 20s, 30s and even 40s. <\/p>\n Liam Bremer, president of Luxembourg\u2019s national youth council, the Jugendrot, agrees and argues that the reform in its current form will only impact young people adversely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCurrent pensions are adjusted for inflation, then there is also readjustment through which pensions rise in accordance with rises in wages,\u201d he told the Luxembourg Times. \u201cIt is unfortunate that the reform is biased against working people, and then by extension even more biased against young people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n President of the Jugendrot, Liam Bremer.\u00a0\u00a9 Photo credit: Jugendrot\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCurrent pensions are adjusted for inflation, then there is also readjustment through which pensions rise in accordance with rises in wages,\u201d he told the Luxembourg Times. \u201cIt is unfortunate that the reform is biased against working people, and then by extension even more biased against young people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also feels that the government\u2019s proposal to increase the effective retirement age by eight months over five years will not have any significant impact on the sustainability of the system. Currently, while the legal retirement age is 65, the average retirement age in Luxembourg is actually<\/a> just 59, the lowest in Europe. <\/p>\n \u201c[The] government is assuming that by increasing mandatory contribution years that this will automatically result in an increase in retirement age, I don\u2019t think that will be necessarily true in all cases. Because a lot of people who are retiring now, they are already contributing 42 years. Let\u2019s take a hypothetical scenario of a person who starts studying at 18. They study for seven years and then they get a job. And they keep working till 60. They have contributed 42 years,\u201d Bremer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n No voice in the discussion\u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond the financial burden, young people say they have had very little representation in the pension debate. The government\u2019s negotiations prompted by union-led protests<\/a> in June took place between the cabinet under Prime Minister Luc Frieden, employer representatives and labour unions, with youth organisations sidelined.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole discussion is dominated by older men who are close to retirement themselves. There is no representation of young people in the discussions,\u201d said the 28-year-old finance professional. \u201cIt is a system designed by the old and paid for by the young.\u201d<\/p>\n It is unfortunate that the views and needs of young people were not taken into account\u00a0<\/p>\n Liam Bremer<\/p>\n President, Jugendrot<\/p>\n The Jugendrot was involved in the early stages of the discussions – the so-called Schw\u00e4tz mat phase, which included expert meetings, consultations and a youth dialogue, said Bremer. But it wasn\u2019t part of the social dialogue where the hard negotiations happened.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is unfortunate that the views and needs of young people were not taken into account and this will have to change if the pension reform has to be made sustainable in the future,\u201d said Bremer.\u00a0<\/p>\n