• The bill on pension reform to the Council of Ministers around the end of June 
• Four meetings of the LAC are expected to take place within June 

Issues of the utmost importance concerning, among other things, the formulation of a credible governance framework and investment policy in relation to the reserve of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), are expected to be raised during today's meeting of the Labour Advisory Body (LAC), which is convening within the framework of the pension system reform. 

At today's meeting of the LAC, which was called for 09:30, Dionysis Dionysiou, Head of the Directorate of Economic Policy and European Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, will be present to present the preferred scenario for ending state borrowing from the SIF, as well as the corresponding scenario for the gradual repayment, over time, of the Fund's existing reserve. 

According to information obtained by Brief, the senior economic officer of the Ministry of Finance will simultaneously set out the prerequisites that must be implemented in order to realize these scenarios. The main prerequisites concern: 

• Strict fiscal discipline and the formulation of a credible framework for governance, management, and investment policy, in order to make the best possible utilization of the SIF reserve. 

• The utilization of the reserve must be carried out with the least risk and the best possible returns. 

As Brief recently revealed, the establishment of an Independent Authority is proposed, which will manage the investment account of the SIF and which will be based on international standards and governance principles, transparency, accountability, and independence in investment decision-making, as well as the best safeguarding of the pension rights of the insured. 

In the context of the LAC meeting, it is obvious that questions will be submitted and clarifications will be given. 

The basic principles governing fiscal discipline will cover, as a competent source stated, the entire spectrum of any decisions taken either in relation to the increase of pensions, or the gradual abolition of the 12% penalty, or the investment policy to be adopted for the utilization of part of the SIF reserve. 

As Brief wrote yesterday, the intention of the Presidency and specifically of Marinos Mousiouttas, Minister of Labour, is for the bill on pension reform to be submitted to the Council of Ministers before the end of June. 

The government aims to refer the relevant bill to the House of Representatives at the latest by the beginning of July.

Marinos Mousiouttas, Minister of Labour, had recently stated that within June as many meetings of the LAC as possible will take place, so that it becomes possible to submit the bill to Parliament before the body's recess due to the summer holidays. 

The bill will concern the first pension pillar, which is the SIF, despite the fact that there are views on the part, mainly, of the trade union movement and economic bodies, that it would be more beneficial and effective to also include the second pension pillar, which concerns supplementary pension schemes, such as Provident Funds.

Source: Brief