Pensioners’ associations are furious with the Christian Democrat party (CDA) which they say has broken its election promise by agreeing to restructure the state pension scheme, reports Friday’s Volkskrant.

Plans – leaked last week in advance of budget day on September 16 – to make those over 65 pay extra tax on pensions they have saved up themselves above €18,000 are ‘out of the question’ the country’s largest pensioners’ union ANBO told the paper.
‘This group has already paid once for their pensions,’ ANBO’s Frank van der Aa told the Volkskrant.
And he says that he doubts that the CDA’s new promise, that the retirement age will remain 65, will be kept: ‘Take it from me – the retirement age will go up to 67 in the future.’
The state pension (AOW) was one of the most important themes of the 2006 election campaign.
MP Liesbeth Spies admits that its agreement with changes in the pension system was ‘a concession’ it had to make when it was forming a coalition with Labour. ‘But we also got something back – older people who continue working get a bonus,’ she is quoted by the Volkskrant as saying.
According to the ANBO and other pension groups, the cabinet should channel its energies into increasing the participation of people between 55 and 65 in the labour market.