Ľudovít Kaník, a former labour minister, has claimed that Slovakia’s social security provider Sociálna Poisťovňa (SP) is being misused for political purposes, in order to drive as many people as possible out of the second, private, pension pillar.
He has pointed to minutes from internal meetings of Sociálna Poisťovňa to back up his claims.
“Sociálna Poisťovňa is used and misused as a political tool, as an instrument for achieving political, ideological goals, which is in this case to drive as many people as possible from the second pension pillar,” Kaník said. He pointed to the fact that following its reopening, nearly 14,000 people quit the second pension pillar and over 7,500 people joined it.
SP has rejected Kaník’s comments, the SITA wrote. SP spokesperson Peter Višváder described his allegations as biased and inaccurate. Višváder claimed that private pension fund management companies and OZ Sporiteľ (a civic society of which Kaník is a member) are leading a one-sided information campaign in favour of the second pension pillar and not informing the public about what he said were the risks in saving for their pension in the second pension pillar.
“Sociálna Poisťovňa finds it necessary and does not see anything beyond the framework of its tasks, to counter this one-sided information and publicly speak about risks of the second pension pillar,” he concluded. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
