Czechs, Slovaks to Cooperate on Pension Reform

By Uherske Hradiste, Prague Daily Monitor/ČTK

Czech Republic and Slovakia

April 5, 2007
 

The Czech Republic and Slovakia will decide questions linked to the pension reform jointly, Czech Labour Minister Petr Necas and his Slovak counterpart Viera Tomanova agreed at a meeting in Uherske Hradiste today.

The two countries' Labour Ministers will establish expert teams that will work together, the ministers said.

Apart from the pension reform, both countries have started preparing a Czech-Slovak social security agreement as well as the agreements designed to curb illegal employment and abuse of social security benefits.

The agreement should regulate the provision of old-age pensions to Czechs who were employed with firms based in Slovakia and Slovaks who were employed with firms in the Czech Republic during the existence of Czechoslovakia.

At present, these people receive pensions from the state in which they worked. For instance, Czechs who were employed in Slovakia receive their pensions from Slovakia.

However, it is lower than the pension that they would have received in the Czech Republic.

This is the situation of almost 3,000 originally Czechoslovak pensioners who live in the Czech Republic, but receive their pensions from Slovakia. On the other hand, the Czech Social Security Authority (CSSZ) sends pensions to about 30,000 Slovaks in Slovakia, CSSZ spokeswoman Stepanka Filipova told CTK.

"I have perceived the problem as painful for a long time and I have been seeking an appropriate solution that would respect the two countries' legislation and EU law," Necas told CTK today.

Necas said that some 90,000 Slovaks work in the Czech Republic at present, which is one-half of all employed foreigners.

According to Tomanova, some 1,150 Czechs, mostly men, are employed in Slovakia.

"This is logical. In Slovakia, wages are lower than in the Czech Republic and unemployment is higher," Tomanova told CTK.

Tomanova showed the interest in the new Czech Labour Code because Slovakia is preparing similar changes in its Labour Code.

Necas and Tomanova exchanged experience in the social policy area.

The meeting took place on Tomanova's initiative.

($1=20.966 crowns)