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Eastern Europe
August 31, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
Putin plays the good cop and scales back pension reform (for women)
bne IntelliNews
After two months of silence Russia's President Vladimir Putin came out with a televised address to the nation on August 29, in which he scaled back the controversial, long overdue, and widely unpopular pension reform that hikes the retire- ment ages for Russians from Soviet era lows.
In an address that was drum-rolled in a PR build up by the Kremlin, Putin cut back the retirement age increase for women by eight years from the current 55 to 63, scaling it back to 60 years. He also introduced a number of other compensatory measures that were immediately picked up by the cabinet and the parliament.
Putin has staunchly opposed a retirement age hike throughout his 18-year rule and since the pension reform was launched in 2018 Putin commented
on it only once, but then he did not categorically denounce it. The original bill currently in the
State Duma proposes hiking the retirement age for women to 63 and for men to 65 by 2034, from 55 and 60, respectively. The Ministry of Finance has said previously that the change is necessary as with Russia’s deteriorating demographics it is afraid of pension payments overwhelming the state finances in the coming years.
In the address Putin said that the reform "could no longer be postponed", and urged the people to "treat with understanding" the "difficult, but nec- essary decision." The president warned that "rela- tively soon" the number of workers will equal the number of retirees, which would burst either the pension system or the budget and fiscal buffers
supporting it. Previously one pensioner was sup- ported by the social contributions of two workers.
Polls showed that discontent over the pension reform has snowballed, as the readiness of Russians for mass protests over economic policies has risen from a record low to top 40% for the first time since 2009. The popularity of Putin, and to a larger extent, the ruling United Russia party, has also taken a hit.
Previous reports already indicated that Kremlin
is looking for ways to scale back the reform, while also making Putin the messenger of good news. "It is obvious that a giveaway from the president is due," one commentator said.
The timing of the reform is also awkward as the pro-Putin United Russia party will face difficulties in the upcoming regional elections in September due to the reform.
The giveaways announced by the president concern mostly working women, with the retirement age for women to be hiked to 60 years instead of 63, while mothers with more than three children will have the right to retire one year earlier for every additional child. Other reports say that the military has also been exempted
and some classes of soldiers have a retirement entitlement from 35 years old.
"Our country has a special, careful attitude towards women," the president said, adding that "we understand that they not only have work at