The Forum Unions Malta has objected to the European Commission’s recommendation to raise the statutory pensions age with a warning: “do not touch it”.

The European Commission's Country Specific Report for Malta, published a few weeks ago, said that since life expectancy was going up, the pension system would become unsustainable unless the statutory retirement age was adjusted.

The pensionable age has been reformed through various measures to make the system more sustainable, with the For.U.M. saying some of these were “clearly detrimental to employees” who saw their respective statutory retirement age being raised in the past years.

“While emphasising that the sustainability of pensions is of utmost importance, measures which are detrimental to employees cannot be considered,” it insisted.

For.U.M. appealed to the government to consult all social partners about the work being carried out by the Pensions Strategy Group - which should finalise their work by 2020 - and will be asking the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development to include the topic on its agenda.

The report can be accessed here.