The issue of early retirement pensions is currently at the center of public attention, as the government plans significant changes to the system starting in 2027. Firstly, it is intended to reduce the number of professional categories eligible for these pensions. Secondly, there are discussions about increasing the retirement age and required years of service for eligibility. Why now, and what do these changes mean? BNN asked political analyst and co-owner of the company Mediju tilts, Filips Rajevskis.
The political analyst points out that while the general retirement age has been increased to 65, the age for early retirement pensions has remained unchanged. This creates an unequal situation, which could eventually result in lawsuits on human rights grounds.
“The second issue relates to security services—fields where early retirement is available are seeing a growing workforce, including those performing support functions. Eventually, these individuals will also retire, and at some point, the pension expenditures will grow dramatically. This will place enormous pressure on the state budget, which at some point could become unsustainable,” explains Rajevskis.
According to him, the government is already seeing rising expenses for current early retirees, as many do not continue working after reaching the eligible age, but instead choose to retire.
“This, in turn, removes productive labor from the economy—people who, from an age perspective, could still work,”
Rajevskis says. He notes that regular workers must work until 65, and often the professional load in other jobs is not that different from those in early retirement eligible professions.
When BNN pointed out that there’s another side to the issue—that the ability to retire earlier acts as an incentive or “carrot” encouraging people to choose demanding professions such as firefighter, police officer, soldier, or emergency medical worker—Rajevskis responded that the number of categories eligible for early retirement is very high, and this makes the incentive scheme extremely expensive.
According to the political analyst, the changes to special laws will not affect all current employees in those professions at once. The new early retirement regulations will be introduced with a transition period.
“It’s not going to be the case that those already in the system will suddenly be told, ‘We’ve changed the rules, and you can forget about early retirement.’ It’s just that new entrants to the profession will no longer have access to this bonus. As for those currently working, these are state obligations. It cannot be that a person serves the required number of years defined by special laws and is then told—‘Thanks, but you’re no longer entitled to anything!’ That would also be unacceptable.”
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