The government’s plans to reform the pension system were on Wednesday presented to trade unions and other stakeholders, with President Nikos Christodoulides hailing the plans as “the largest and most substantial reform to the pension system carried out since 1980”.

He said that the government “aims for more justice, adequacy, and security for every generation” in enacting the reform, and that the reform itself will be “based on two non-negotiable principles: more dignified pensions today, and a sustainable social insurance fund for tomorrow”.

Additionally, he said, the reform will “give the greatest support to our low-income pensioners” and “strengthen households’ disposable income”.

“Our message to every pensioner, to every worker, to every young person is clear: this reform is being done for you,” he said.

“It is being done for the pensioner who deserves a better quality of life, it is being done for the worker who wants to secure his future, it is being done for the mother who interrupted her career to raise her children, it is being done for our fellow people with disabilities who did not have equal opportunities to make social insurance contributions.”

Additionally, he said, it was aimed at young people who were studying and preparing to enter the labour market.

“The pension reform is another important chapter in the government’s great reform programme, in our great effort to change Cyprus,” he said.

He added that the reform comes “after the tax reform, the substantial reforms concerning benefits for people with disabilities, the permanent agreement on the cost-of-living allowance, the increases to the minimum wage, the new policy framework for people with disabilities, the policies to support the family and work and many other reforms”.

“We are continuing with the same determination, strengthening the disposable income every household has, for every business, for every young professional, for every pensioner,” he said, before adding that his government is “combining fiscal responsibility with social justice”.

In addition, he said that the government is “encouraging individual effort and solidarity and offering equal opportunities to all”.

Little is known thus far about the specifics of the government’s planned pension reforms, though Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas had said earlier on Wednesday that the government aims to submit bills to parliament next month and have the reforms implemented by the beginning of February.

Thus far, the only specific figure mentioned publicly by the government was ruling out a suggestion made jointly by House President Annita Demetriou and social media influencer Fidias Panayiotou for the minimum monthly pension amount to rise from €450 to €1,088, to bring it into line with the minimum wage.

Mousiouttas had said in June that such a plan “is not possible”.

Earlier, he had said in February that the government is against the idea of cutting pensions for high earners to fund increases to pensioners earning less, saying that “this scenario should be set aside and we should remain within the bounds of scenarios in which no reduction of the acquired rights of any pensioner is envisaged”.

In January, he had said that the reform bills will “contain” provisions regarding the low-income pensioners’ allowance, the social insurance fund’s investment policy, and the 12-per-cent pension “penalty”, as he described it, for people who take early retirement.

Those changes to the social insurance fund’s investment policy may include a diversification of its investments, with previous recommendations made to the government having suggested that a larger proportion of its fund be invested into non-public assets.

Mousiouttas agreed with this assessment in January, saying that it will “certainly be diversified within the framework of the pension reform so that it can bring, without risk, more benefits to the fund and to workers”.