How and when will retroactive payments be made for those who were vindicated by the SC

By Dimitris Katsaganis

Retroactive payments will gradually begin to be made to those pensioners who have been vindicated by the SC, pending central political decisions on possible other solutions.

The reason for those who went to court by July 2020 claiming the return of cuts to their supplementary pensions and gifts for the period between June 2015 – May 2016 (based on the 2011-12 memorandum legislation).

These pensioners were vindicated by the SC, based on the decision of its plenary session.

However, this vindication does not mean “automatic” payment of retroactive payments by the public to all those who have appealed to justice, they note in Capital.gr.

Such a thing would require a central political decision by the government, which, for the time being, has not been taken.

This, however, the same sources emphasize, does not mean that the public will remain inactive towards the pensioners who were vindicated by the Supreme Court until any government decisions are taken at the central level.

The key to mobilizing the public, i.e. the payment of retroactive benefits to this category of pensioners, will be the decisions of the courts that examine their appeals.

This means that their positive decision will lead to the payment of retroactive payments to those entitled to e-EFKA.

The same sources estimate, speaking to Capital.gr, that the decision positive for the pensioners by the SC could speed up the adjudication of their appeals in the local courts, thus speeding up the payment of their retroactive benefits by the e-EFKA.

In this case, the payment of retroactive payments would take the form of a barrage of monthly payments of retroactive payments to those periodically vindicated by the local courts. Thus, the state budget could more easily “lift” the fiscal burden of returning the cuts to this category of pensioners.

Alternatively, on the government’s table is to give, with a central political decision, the retroactive “one and out” to all those who appealed to the Supreme Court, as the positive decision of the supreme court for them will lead to a positive decision of the local courts as well.

Besides, the payment of retroactive benefits to all pensioners should not be excluded, whether they appealed to justice or not (either in one go, or in 2 installments, e.g. first the retroactive benefits of the supplementary benefits and then the gifts or vice versa), but and the offsetting of the retroactives of all pensioners with the negative personal difference or even the upcoming horizontal increases from January 1, 2023.