The task of the old-age security commission is to watch over the long-term balance of the pension system and to ensure that the generational balance is right. It has become more and more difficult for him. Politics work according to different standards, “I have to accept that,” said Pöltner, who used to be section head in the Ministry of Social Affairs and minister in the transitional government of Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein.
The main reason for his resignation is that, in his opinion, the policy is “completely wrong. But it can also be that the government is right and I am wrong. Both are in any case a reason to resign. My opinion does not match that of politics.” , stated Pöltner, who has already communicated his decision to the “Wiener Zeitung” and the “Standard”.
He is “tired of playing the bad boy and like a Tibetan prayer wheel” to point out developments. “Why should I do this to myself”, Pöltner asks himself the rhetorical question, who also pointed out that the function is voluntary. He also finds it increasingly difficult to work with some members of the Commission who do not follow his arguments.
Pöltner would immediately resign from the chairmanship of the Old Age Security Commission if Minister of Social Affairs Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) so wished. However, he would also remain in office until the end of the year if the decision on the long-term and medium-term pension report was still desired under his leadership. In any case, he has already communicated his decision to the ministerial office, and he has a meeting with Minister Mückstein himself on Wednesday.
In the past, Pöltner had repeatedly spoken out against socially graded pension adjustments, because this would undermine the insurance principle. However, the turquoise-green government announced at the weekend that, as in previous years, small pensions will again be increased more sharply for next year. Specifically, pensions are to be increased by three percent up to 1,000 euros. The increase will then be reduced to 1.8 percent up to 1,300 euros, and from this amount the inflation compensation of 1.8 percent applies. The costs for this are 1.1 billion euros.
