Denmark’s parliament is debating a future raise of the retirement age to 70. A necessary move to keep the Danish welfare system afloat, says the ruling parties.
By Martine M. Christensen & Gabriel Lemark
In May, the parliament will vote to raise the age of retirement, affecting people born after 1970. This as a result of a welfare settlement in 2006 which stated that the retirement age would be based on average life expectancy. Since then the age of retirement has been raised several times.
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen of the ruling Social Democrats has previously stated that the retirement system needs to be renegotiated, and voices within her party are said to demand this to be the last raise. Co-ruling party Moderates leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen has criticised the steep rise of the age limit since 2006.
Meanwhile, third co-ruling party the Liberals defends the raise as a cornerstone of financing the Danish welfare system. Kim Valentin, spokesman of employment, doesn’t want to rule out future raises.
“Part of the settlement is that if we on average live longer, then we retire later as the number of years on retirement should be the same,” he says.
Michael Sølling, branch treasurer at the Danish Metalworkers’ Union in the capital region, is not happy about the proposed raising of the retirement age. He says that the rising life expectancy doesn’t affect their members.
“My members are worn down now. They’ve been working since they were 17 and they can’t do it anymore.”
This article could be published as a small notis in the “Europe” section on the BBC website, with a target audience who would be familiar with Denmark’s existence and cultural reputation as a welfare state, but probably not familiar with the current politicians or political landscape of the country.