Nach Versprecher von Kaczynski: Polen muss Renten neu berechnen
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Polens Vize-Ministerpräsident Kaczynski hat bei einem Auftritt vor Anhängern mehr Rente versprochen als ursprünglich geplant. Doch statt seine Aussage zurückzunehmen, wird das System neu berechnet. Denn Kaczynski darf sich nicht irren. Von Martin Adam.

Translated with DeepL:

Pension Increase in Poland An Expensive Promise

Last Update: 04.09.2023 18:47

Poland’s deputy prime minister Kaczynski promised more pension than originally planned during an appearance in front of supporters. But instead of retracting his statement, the system is being recalculated. Because Kaczynski cannot be wrong. By Martin Adam, ARD Warsaw

Jaroslaw Kaczynski stands on stage in front of his supporters, as he has done so often in recent months. This time in Paradyz, a small village near Lodz. The leader of the ruling PiS party shies away from meeting the opposition.

But the PiS’s reliable core electorate of about 30 per cent is to be mobilised at all costs - among other things with an additional, now 14th pension payment.

Net confused with gross

A law on the subject was passed in May. Now Kaczynki announces how much money Polish seniors can soon expect: “We have decided and already secured by law that the so-called 14th pension will also be paid out in the coming years. (…) So I inform you that it will amount to 2200 zloty net.”

Converted to 492 euros extra per year, this is to happen not just once, but continuously - applause in the audience, confusion in PiS headquarters. For Kaczynki, known in Poland only as “Prezes”, the chairman, has made a mistake. 2200 zloty net, he promises. Gross was meant. This is quickly noticed when the PiS posts the prepared message on social networks parallel to the prez’s appearance. It talks about the gross amount. In order to arrive at the same net amount, i.e. after taxes and health insurance, the Polish pension fund would have to spend considerably more money.

Pension system to be adjusted

A slip of the tongue, can happen - but not with the Prezes. Pension expert Antoni Kolek is quick to note that it is not Kaczynski who is revising, but the pension system, “because the very next day the government published a decree that talks about 2650 zloty gross. I have no doubt that this 14th pension will be paid during the election campaign. If we look at the budget for 2024, there is no increased payment there. There are only funds secured for the minimum pension.”

Fear of electoral defeat

Either way, the payments will not be enough to compensate for the high inflation, the left opposition criticises. But before the elections it is a strong promise and Kaczynski has not erred, must not err. In the PiS camp, fear of an electoral defeat is running rampant, says sociologist Andrzej Rychard of the Polish Academy of Sciences: “I see this not only as a sign that we have a system in which everything depends on the discretion of the chairman, but also a sign of fear. What will become of the elections if we don’t follow up this mistake with action. So what? So it will cost eight billion.” Experts estimate that Kaczynski’s slip of the tongue will cost eight to nine billion zloty more, or about two billion euros. There is no way back, the first pension payments were already instructed at the beginning of September.