At a press conference on Monday, Gabriel Felbermayr, head of Wifo, argued for an increase to 67. As a private individual and WU professor, he goes even further and would be in favor of linking the retirement age to life expectancy. In his opinion, measures could also be taken in the short term, for example by adjusting pensions below inflation.

In 1980 there were 4.5 working people for every pensioner, last year there were three and in 2050 there will only be 1.7. The current system cannot be maintained for much longer. A country comparison study carried out by Wifo expert Thomas Url underpins the demand, as most countries are turning the screw on the retirement age, with the exception of Ireland and Spain, which would have opted for higher contributions as part of their reform efforts.

In Denmark, for example, the retirement age is expected to rise to an impressive 74 years by 2070. In Greece, it will still be 72.5 years. Felbermayr issued a warning here. In Greece, it took a state bankruptcy to reform the pension system, but then "very dramatic steps" had to be taken. Sweden, on the other hand, has also linked the level of pension adjustments to demographic developments.

"Lower political costs" with automatism
Social expert Wolfgang Mazal argued that reforms would become even more difficult or harder for future generations due to the increased interest burden. There could be no interest in this, because nobody wanted to drive the system up the wall. Governments tend not to tackle the issue of pensions because they could then be punished at the next election. According to Url, however, there is some evidence that an automatic system would result in "lower political costs". This is because such adjustments to the retirement age would generally be small steps.

Felbermayr also pointed out that in the past five years, adjustments had also been made to salaries that could not actually be afforded in the budgetary environment. In the opinion of the Wifo boss, there is a lot to be said for making the next adjustments below the rate of inflation after years of increases above the rate of inflation.

Skepticism among experts: "Passes politics by unobserved"
A "smarter mobilization" of private savings should also be promoted - in other words, a further expansion of the occupational and private pillars. One person who has a lot of experience with pension reform is the former head of section and former head of the Pension Commission, Walter Pöltner: "Every year the same procedure," he said. There are all kinds of reports with data material and they all "pass by unnoticed" by politicians.

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