During the election campaign, promises were made to abolish mandatory pension savings. But now two members of the Greenlandic government have refused to be interviewed on the subject.
During the election campaign for Inatsisartut, the message from Demokraatit was clear.
– We must stop the imposition of mandatory pension savings, said Demokraatit’s chairman, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who is currently chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, in a video on his Facebook page.
He continued in the video:
– If you are currently employed as a worker or fisherman, you unfortunately cannot get the money out of your pocket that you need on a daily basis. It is unacceptable to force people to do so.
But even though Jens-Frederik Nielsen has now taken the chair as chairman of the Greenland Parliament, it is still unknown whether the mandatory pension scheme will be abolished. This is stated in a paragraph 37 response from the Greenland Parliament to a question posed by member of Inatsisarturt Naleraqs Pele Broberg.
Had expectations
Here, Pele Broberg asks when the Greenlanders’ government will abolish mandatory pension savings, which the chairman of the Greenlanders’ government has previously had as an ambition. But the answer is disappointing, the questioner believes.
– I had an expectation that people would be willing to change the scheme to a voluntary model rather than maintaining coercion. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the response I received, says Pele Broberg, chairman of Naleraq.
In its response to the Inatsisartut member, the Greenlanders’ Government refers to the coalition agreement. It states that a political agreement on a new pension reform is to be reached in 2026. The agreement is to be based on recommendations from an expert working group that the Greenlanders’ Government plans to establish. However, it also states that it cannot yet be said whether the mandatory pension scheme will be included in the working group’s recommendations.
Broberg: The solution is already known
Pele Broberg is critical of the need for a working group. He believes that the problem has already been clearly identified – namely forced savings – and that the solution is equally clear: the abolition of forced savings.
– There is no uncertainty and no need for a working group. The only thing missing is a political decision, he says.
According to opposition leader Pele Broberg, the answer suggests that it is to a greater extent civil servants who control the decisions.
– We don’t want to change anything, we don’t want to move anything – we let the officials run the country, says Pele Broberg.
Naalakkersuisut refers to each other
The chairman of the Greenlandic Parliament, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has not wanted to be interviewed by KNR about his election promise to abolish coercion in the pension system.
He has instead referred to the Minister of Finance and Taxes of Greenland, Múte Bourup Egede (IA). KNR has presented Pele Broberg’s criticism to Múte Bourup Egede, but he has also not wanted to be interviewed. Instead, he has referred back to the Chairman of the Minister of Finance and Taxes of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen.