ODS criticises ČSSD's promise to secure higher pensions

Prague, Feb 4 (CTK) - Petr Necas, deputy chairman of the Civic Democrats (ODS), yesterday criticised the Social Democrats' (CSSD) election promise to secure pensions that would make up 74 percent of the average net wage, compared to the present 54 percent.

The measure, if implemented, would raise the state expenditures by more than 120 billion crowns, Necas said.

The ODS yesterday also rejected the CSSD's proposal that an extraordinary one-off contribution of 2,400 crowns be paid out to pensioners this year.

There is no reason to do so, as seniors'expenditures have not grown in the past period, the ODS said.

The ODS called the proposal for a one-off contribution to pensioners a pre-election move worth 7 billion crowns.

The general election is due in May. At present the country has a caretaker government of unaffiliated experts nominated mainly by the two strongest parties, the ODS and the CSSD.

CSSD deputy chairman Zdenek Skromach rejected the ODS's criticism yesterday. He said the one-off contribution should compensate the increase in pensioners' living costs, also caused by the growing VAT and rents.

The CSSD's long-term goal is to preserve the pay-as-you-go pension system without taking money out it, Skromach continued.

He said the CSSD is preparing a pension reform that would be "sensitive and based on the high-income people's solidarity with the low-income groups."

The ODS should not scare people saying that the state will run out of money for pensions. There has always been money for pensions and it will be so in the future as well, Skromach said.

In the past week, the ODS managed to prevent the CSSD's proposal from being discussed at the ongoing lower house session.

The CSSD, nevertheless, has initiated an extraordinary session that would discuss the proposal and take a vote on it. The session will be held next Tuesday.

The forces of the left camp, that supports the proposal, and the right camp, that is categorically opposed to it, are about the same in the lower house where the scale is tipped by a few independent deputies and the decisions of which are unpredictable, according to observers.

Necas, former labour and social affairs minister, yesterday said the Czech pension reform must be completed by 2012. The ODS has drafted a number of bills in this connection, combining the pay-as-you-go system of financing pensions with that based on pension funds. The bills also aim to motivate people to join private pension schemes and to deposit more money on their accounts over a longer period, Necas said.