A paragraph 37 response exposes the coalition parties’ internal disagreement over mandatory pension savings. While Atassut is ready to stop the scheme, Siumut believes it will cripple the country’s economy.
Should there be mandatory pension savings or not? That is the big question for the Greenland government, as the coalition parties disagree about what the right solution is.
If you ask Atassut’s chairman, Aqqalu Jeremiassen, there is no doubt that it should be abolished. And if the Greenland Government does not want to take the initiative itself, Atassut will, as part of the coalition, submit a proposal to Inatsisartut, he says.
– If they do not go ahead, we from Atassut will try to get a majority in Parliament, says Aqqalu Jerimiassen and continues:
– It’s good that some parties had it as a theme during the election campaign. They must take responsibility if they have now dropped it after they have entered government.
A promise
During the election campaign for Inatsisartut, the message from Demokraatit was clear: compulsory pension savings must be abolished.
– We want to stop the forced pension savings, wrote Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who is currently chairman of Demokraatit and naalakkersuisut, on Facebook during the election campaign.
But now it appears from a Section 37 response that it is not entirely straightforward. The response states that a new political agreement on pension reform must be concluded in 2026. It must be based on recommendations from an expert group that the Greenlandic government will set up. It is therefore uncertain whether mandatory pension savings will be part of the working group’s recommendations.
If you ask Inuit Ataqatigiit how they stand on mandatory pension savings, the answer is unclear. They first want to hear what the working group recommends before the party takes a position.
– I hope that the Greenlanders will start the working group quickly. That way we can find a solution faster and better, says Marianne Paviasen Jensen, who is the Inatsisartut member of the Finance and Tax Committee for the IA.
Siumut: You have to have savings
Siumut’s Inatsisartut member, Erik Jensen, who was chairman of the party until March, has no doubts. People must save for retirement themselves, otherwise the country’s economy will collapse.
– If the compulsory savings are removed, the national treasury and the municipal coffers will lose money. Very quickly. If we don’t want to bring the country into financial ruin, we have to save for our own pensions, says Erik Jensen.
He wants people to save from the age of 25 until they turn 60. Today, people with an annual income of over 150,000 kroner must save, but Siumut wants to raise the limit to 250,000 kroner.
KNR has contacted Demokraatits Inatsisartutgruppe for an interview, but it has not been possible before the deadline.