Thousands of Greek pensioners have to return to state more than 27 million euros as they received more than they should. The issue affects 6,410 retired members of the Greek Armed Forces and 1,567 pensioners of the private sector social security fund EFKA.
In December 2018, an additional amount of €19,362,673 was credited to 6,410 retired servicemen. In May 2019 the additional amount of €8,257,009 was transferred to 1,567 EFKA pensioners.
The Ministry of Labor has already sent letters demanding the money return. Those who do not respond will see the demanded amounts be deducted from their pensions.
The additional amounts were transferred to retirees and pensioners due to errors in processing the payment files, the Labor Ministry said in a statement.
Letters demanding back 500 euros were sent already in summer. 297 EFKA pensioners responded positively and returned a total of 2,801,715 euros. 263 pensioners returned the full amount, 34 only part of it.
For 1,304 EFKA pensioners the ministry will start to cut their pensions by 1/3 as of end of November.
Regarding the retired servicemen, 140 letters were sent in July demanding back amounts of 15,000 euros. To date, 83 have met their obligations, a total of €1,429,150.21 has been returned, the ministry said.
793 letters to retired servicemen who received over 5,000 euros are expected to be sent by the beginning of December. If they do not respond positively, the state will pay their decreased pensions as of February.
PS what we learn from this error story? That state retirees are privileged in many ways even if the majority of them retire after 25 years of work. And they receive much higher pensions. Nothing new here.
