Greece passes law to restore survivor pensions and end benefit cuts

The Greek Parliament has passed new legislation that fundamentally changes the landscape of survivor pensions by repealing strict cuts previously established under Law 4387/2016.

A key component of the reform is the abolition of the automatic reduction in pension payments that typically occurred after an initial three-year period. For approximately 8,500 public sector retirees who saw their benefits drop from 70% to 35% after three years, the new law mandates a full restoration to the original 70%, effectively doubling their monthly payments for life.

Furthermore, the regulation provides relief to an additional 75,000 retirees. Under the previous legal framework, these individuals were slated to face pension reductions after three years, though such cuts had not yet been implemented in practice. The new law permanently cancels these planned reductions and ensures that the state waives all claims to retroactive payments that could have been owed to EFKA. This move aims to protect retirees from the financial burden of retroactive debt collection.