Anastasiades vetoes bill for widowers’ pension

President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday vetoed a bill on the widowers’ pension passed by the House plenum earlier in the month on the grounds that it disrupts the viability of the social insurance fund.

The bill sought to regulate men’s right to a widower’s pension and set beneficiaries as men who became widowers after January 1, 2018. Those widowed before that date staged a protest a few days later.

On the basis of results from an actuarial study conducted in July 2017, Anastasiades said that “the approved changes significantly increase the cost of public finances as the deficit that will arise in the social security fund… will inevitably trickle down into the state budget.”

The implementation of the bill would negatively affect the viability of the social insurance fund and threaten its longevity, the president said.

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