Deputy Director of EFKA: Priority Given to Issuing Main Pensions

Regarding the retroactive pensions for retirees and the issuance times of main and supplementary pensions, Deputy Director Panagiotis Kokkoris spoke today (18.05.2025) on ERT News. The Deputy Director of EFKA emphasized that: ‘Firstly, regarding the main and supplementary pensions, priority has been given to issuing the main pensions. We also had a fast-track process, which was implemented so that retirees could receive 70%, 80%, or even 90% of their pension accordingly. Regarding the supplementary pensions, when we have 100 funds that have merged, when there is paper documentation, and when not all of the insurance history is recorded, it’s important to note that in order to issue a supplementary pension, the main pension must be issued first. And to issue the main pension, there must be a complete record of the insurance history. There should be no errors or discrepancies. Once these conditions are met, then the supplementary pensions can be issued immediately. As for ETAM and other institutions, the insurance history has been recorded, except in cases where individuals worked at IKA beforehand. However, in the public sector, supplementary pensions are issued automatically, such as in flour-related industries. How could they be issued correctly when the calculation of the insurance history was based on kilos of flour, i.e., invoices that were issued? How can the supplementary pensions be calculated in metal funds? For engineers and others, on-site inspections are conducted. There are approximately 50 million pages of paper documentation that need to be digitized. Regarding the supplementary pensions, there is no digitization yet, and we are waiting for the scanning process to allow employees to access documents during processing and correct any small errors for faster issuance. We estimate that within a year, the process will be fully digitized. This does not mean that they are not being issued; every day more are being processed. The staff is making intense efforts. When an insurance system is created without proper planning, merging all funds into one complex system becomes extremely complicated.’