“The pension reform has created a gigantic democratic deficit”, says a collective of around thirty universities. The collective thinks the government’s view on the subject is too restrictive, Le Soir revealed on Tuesday. “They have a purely financial approach. We are about to vote on the reform without having had any sort of debate. The consequence of what we are about to vote on has not been properly investigated. They are trying to solve society’s most important problem with a financial calculation”, says Mateo Alaluf, a sociologist at the ULB. “The pension reform needs clear and widespread debate. Minimising the most important elements has created a gigantic democratic deficit”, says demographer Patrick Deboosere, also from the ULB.
“There are 600,000 unemployed people in Belgium today. Increasing the pension age by two years means there will be 300,000 less jobs”, say experts. They also say this reform would not cover the cost of the aging population.
(Source: Belga)
