You're reading: Communist Party leader vows to cancel pension reform

The Communist Party of Ukraine is planning to cancel pension reform and will propose its own version of reform, taking into account life expectancy in the country.

“After winning the elections, we will cancel the pension reform that was adopted under the dictation of someone from abroad, in particular, at the request of the IMF, which does not correspond to Ukrainian realities,” the party’s press service quoted party leader Petro Symonenko as saying during his working visit to the town of Stakhanov in Luhansk region.

Symonenko said that raising the retirement age and pensionable service, when life expectancy in Ukraine is falling, would result in “pension genocide.”

“In our country, it’s hard for people even to reach the retirement age, while young people will be left without jobs, and in terms of unemployment, Ukraine occupies one of the first places even without pension reform,” Symonenko said.

He said he was sure that such reform should be conducted, but in the interests of the people.

“Reform should be aimed at restoring the fairness of pension accruals, while the time of retirement should be calculated in accordance with life expectancy in Ukraine. Pension reform must be supported materially and financially, as we, the communists, are proposing, in our anti-crisis program, rather than introduced under the principle of ‘no retiree – no problem,’ as is done by the government,” Symonenko said.