Social Security

Almost 5,000 Albanians are expected to benefit from the new law on social insurance contributions that entered into force on January 1.  

"All those who do not fulfil the necessary conditions for a pension can claim a social pension if they are older than 70 and have lived in Albania for the last five years," says the law.  

Opponents of the tax rise from 10 to 35 per cent for contract workers said they would take an appeal to the constitutional court in a bid to have the increase revoked.

By Roula Salourou

Nine out of 10 workers who retired in the last four months who had belonged to the former special funds of banks and state corporations that have now been incorporated in the Social Security Fund (IKA) were below the age of 62, according to the Labor Ministry’s Helios database.

By Roula Salourou

The International Monetary Fund has proposed the introduction of a single set of regulations for calculating social security contributions and taxes, as well as a common rate of contributions for all workers insured in social security funds, i.e. both salaried workers and the self-employed.

 Taxpayers with total debts of over 132 million euros to social security funds enter new payment scheme

By Roula Salourou

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Employers should be able to hire workers by the hour and a minimum hourly wage should be introduced to this end, Labor Minister Ivaylo Kalfin has said.

Its amount should be BGN 4, two times the current quotient of the minimum daily payment divided by the number of hours, Kalfin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister for Demographic and Social Policy, told private channel NOVA TV.

By Roula Salourou

The demographic threat is evolving into one of the social security system’s biggest, both in Greece and the European Union in general.

The latest EU report on the bloc’s aging population showed that the prospects are particularly concerning in Greece, as the current ratio of one over-65-year-old for every three people of working age will shift to 1:2 by 2040.

The state budget’s primary surplus beat expectations by almost a billion euros in the first nine months of the year, General Accounting Office data confirmed on Tuesday, but tax revenues and social security funding figures are causing concern at the Finance Ministry.

Romania has the capability to make products at the highest quality- and price standards, as many times the Romanian products are better than some coming from outside the country, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said in Arad (western Romania) on Friday at the end of a visit to local Astra Carriage Maker.

The average monthly insurable earnings in Bulgaria for the period October 2013 - August 2014 amounted to BGN 670.58, according to data provided by the National Social Security Institute.

The average monthly insurable earnings in the country for the month of August were BGN 671.51.