Denmark to raise the retirement age to the highest in Europe

Denmark should have the highest retirement age in Europe after its parliament passed a law that raised it to 70 to 2040.

Since 2006, Denmark has linked the official retirement age to life expectancy and reviewed it every five years. Currently, 67, but in 2030 will grow to 68 and 69 in 2035.

The retirement age at 70 will be applied to all people born after December 31, 1970.

The new law passed on Thursday with 81 votes for and 21 votes.

However, last year, the Prime Minister of the Social Democrat Mette Frederixen said the sliding principle would eventually be revised.

“We no longer think that the retirement age should be automatically increased,” she said, adding that in her party’s eyes, “You can’t just keep saying that people should work for a year longer.”

Thomas Jensen, a 47-year-old roof, told the Danish media that the changes were “unfounded”.

“We work, work and work, but we cannot continue,” he said.

He added that the situation may be different for those who have jobs, but that the blue collar workers with physically demanding professions will be eliminated.

“I paid taxes all my life. It must also be time to be with children and grandchildren,” Mr. Jensen said in the DK section.

Over the past few weeks, protests backed by unions against increasing retirement age.

On the eve of the vote on Thursday, the chairman of the Danish Trade Union Confederation, Esper Ettrap Rasmussen said that the proposal to increase the retirement age is “completely unfair”.

“Denmark has a healthy economy, and yet the highest retirement age of the EU,” he said.

“A higher retirement age means that (people will) lose the right to a decent older life.”

The retirement ages around Europe are different. In recent years, many governments have raised their retirement age to reflect a longer life expectancy and resolve the budget deficit.

In Sweden, the earliest age people can start demanding retirement payments 63.

The standard retirement age in Italy is 67 years, though, as in Denmark, it is also subject to adjustment based on life expectancy and may increase in 2026.

In the UK, people born from October 6, 1954 to April 5, 1960 begin to receive a pension at the age of 66. But For people born after this date, the state retirement age will gradually increase.

And in France a law was passed, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. Highly popular changes caused protests and riots And President Emanuel Macron had to push through the parliament.