OLD AGE: THE END OF RETIREMENT IN THE SUN?

With 32% of AHV pensions being paid abroad, some are considering the possibility of reducing them. Jean-Luc Addor (SVP/VS) wants to know what the potential savings would be if AHV and IV pensions paid abroad were adjusted for the cost of living. Outrage.

Following the spectre of the merged AVS and 2nd pillar, here is now a second study on the plundering of assets, or how to steal the pensions of retirees who make the (legitimate) choice to spend their retirement in the country of their choice!

Planned human obsolescence (at OASI retirement age) clearly works far less well for pensioners who live happily and in good health in the sun than for those who eke out a miserable existence in the cold in Switzerland, alone and in poor health.

by Alain Farrugia

Following the rejection of the 2020 Pension Reform, parliamentarians are desperately seeking new avenues. Jean-Luc Addor (SVP/VS) has just tabled a parliamentary question asking the Federal Council to assess the potential savings for the AVS and the AI if pensions paid abroad were adjusted to the local cost of living. The National Councillor explains his move as follows: “The aim of the reform that was rejected was to secure the funding of our pension system for the coming years, as well as to maintain pension levels. But we have overlooked another key issue: pensioners who face enormous difficulties making ends meet whilst living in Switzerland.” The MP believes that Parliament must now consider the situation of these “ordinary people who sometimes move abroad, not by choice but out of necessity, to benefit from the difference between Swiss pensions and the cost of living abroad”.

Is it not paradoxical to seek to help these pensioners, who account for 32% of pensions paid out, by proposing to reduce their income? “It is not a question of touching current pensions, but of implementing transitional measures, so that ultimately everyone can live with dignity in Switzerland.” Jean-Luc Addor is aware that this approach will not win him only friends. Last June, it was the president of the PLR, Petra Gössi, who had already sparked a heated controversy by claiming that the 70-franc-a-month increase in AVS pensions was helping “the wrong people”, referring to pensioners living abroad.

Philippe Nantermod (PLR/VS), for his part, is not convinced: “If we look at it cynically, the people who decide to move abroad suit us just fine. They often have low incomes and pay little tax. They also represent healthcare costs and, more generally, use of infrastructure that we do not finance.” He reiterates his opposition to an increase in AHV pensions in Switzerland, preferring targeted measures to help pensioners in difficulty.

“It’s just xenophobic posturing”

As for Roger Nordmann (SP/VD), he makes no secret of his exasperation: “This proposal is nothing but xenophobic mudslinging to mask the incompetence and irresponsibility of the PLR and the UDC, who don’t have a shred of a Plan B. When you don’t know what to do, you blame the problem on foreigners, even though they have contributed to the Swiss system and are entitled to their pensions if they choose to return home.” Of the 737,138 people receiving their pensions outside our borders, more than 85% are in fact foreign nationals, according to figures from the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO).

This does not prevent the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) from joining the ranks of the opponents. “Elected representatives do not automatically think of the 10% of the population living outside the country,” says its director, Ariane Rustichelli. “The assumption is that pension adjustments would only be downwards, whereas, depending on the country of residence, they could also be upwards,” she argues, whilst questioning the limits of this logic. “Will it also apply to cantons, which can also have very different standards of living?” In her view, the measure would ultimately require a huge amount of bureaucracy to adjust pensions every year, which would swallow up any potential savings

By Cléa Favre

Source: Le Matin