Government Implements Fast-Track Process for Auxiliary Pensions

Greece is moving forward with new regulations designed to streamline the issuance of auxiliary pensions for retirees with successive insurance periods across multiple funds. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security, working alongside the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA), is finalizing a regulation that will assign responsibility for issuing supplementary pensions to the last institution where the insured person was registered before retirement, regardless of where they accumulated the most insurance time.

According to the ministry, the legislative intervention aims to accelerate the pension issuance process rather than change how pension amounts are calculated. Currently, supplementary pensions represent a major bottleneck in the Greek pension system, with some cases experiencing delays of two years or more.

Streamlining Auxiliary Pension Issuance

Under the proposed provision, auxiliary pensions are expected to be issued much faster, potentially within a month of the main pension being granted through a fast-track procedure. The last fund will bear exclusive responsibility for processing and issuing the pension, eliminating the need for extensive inter-departmental coordination.

The current system requires a complex internal procedure when retirees have accumulated time across multiple supplementary funds. EFKA services must exchange information and correspondence to determine which institution has the longest period of social security coverage and meets the conditions for granting the pension.

Current Challenges in the Pension System

According to the regulation details, determining responsibility for pension issuance currently consumes months of administrative time. In several cases, delays exceed two years, particularly when two or three former funds with different filing systems and handwritten stamp cards are involved.

The complications arise from existing eligibility requirements. The total period of auxiliary insurance must be at least 15 years for an award to be made by the institution where the application is submitted. However, in cases with longer consecutive insurance periods—such as 25 or 30 years—the institution where the insured has the longest time period and meets qualifying conditions is deemed competent to issue the pension.

In practice, this requirement has meant extensive internal correspondence between supplementary insurance sectors within EFKA. By the time officials decide which department will handle the file, valuable time has already elapsed, leaving retirees waiting for critical financial support.

Impact on Retirees with Multiple Insurance Periods

The ministry indicated that auxiliary insurance sectors dealing with consecutive insurance cases have experienced more significant delays than those handling straightforward cases. These administrative bottlenecks have created particular hardship for retirees who worked across different sectors or changed employers multiple times throughout their careers.

Additionally, the fragmented nature of Greece’s former pension fund system has compounded these challenges. Different funds maintained varying record-keeping practices, making it difficult to consolidate information quickly when processing applications.

The new regulation represents a significant shift in administrative philosophy, prioritizing speed and efficiency over determining which fund holds the majority of insurance time. Meanwhile, officials have emphasized that retirees will not see changes to their pension amounts under the new system—only to how quickly they receive their supplementary benefits.

The reform addresses a longstanding complaint among Greek retirees, who have faced uncertainty and financial strain while waiting for their full pension entitlements. In contrast to the current cumbersome process, the streamlined approach should provide greater predictability for those approaching retirement.

The final regulation is expected to be formally adopted in the coming weeks, though authorities have not confirmed an exact implementation date. Once enacted, the new system should provide immediate relief to pending cases and prevent future backlogs in auxiliary pension processing.