European Court Rules in Favor of Bulgaria in Pensions Cap Claim

Bulgaria in EU | October 25, 2011, Tuesday // 17:21|  views

The building of the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. Photo by BGNES

The European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg has ruled in favor of the Bulgarian State regarding the cap on retirement pensions.

The magistrates have decided that the cap is not discriminating on the grounds that different countries members of the Council of Europe and of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have different ways in determining the amount of retirement pensions and many cap them.

The case was filed by several Bulgarian former military pilots and border policemen.

The Court has ruled that Bulgaria has not committed any violations under the The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while the maximum amount of BGN 700 has "been going up" in the last years, thus the cap affecting fewer retirees.

The nine retirees say in their claim that under the rules for calculating pensions' amount they should be getting more than the BGN 700 cap.

Data of the Bulgarian National Social Security Institute (NOI) shows that over 45 000 retires under the BGN 700 cap get less than what they should be entitled to, which equals about BGN 100 M a year in savings for the State.

The unpaid amount varies between BGN 50 and 850 a month depending on each individual case, with about 600 losing BGN 850 a month.

The elimination of the cap was delayed in the 2010 retirement reform and is expected to become effective on January 1, 2014, for the new pensions and with a gradual increase of the amount of previously capped ones.

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Tags: Bulgaria, pensions, CAP, claim, case, Retirement, retirement reform, NOI, European Human Rights Court, Strasbourg

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