Retirees Chairman: Worst to Grow Old in Kosovo

The elderly in Pristina chose the International Day for the Non-Abort to gather before the Kosovo Government object and raise their voice for their rights. Some pigeons flew to heaven as a symbol to remind the rulers to do more for pensioners.

The chairman of the Association of Pensioners of Kosovo, Nijazi Gashi, said they went out in protest, calling for increased pensions due to the inflation situation.

The biggest problem is that the government is not respecting the current law, at Article 14 in which the pension is said to increase inflation that takes place within a year. The government is obliged according to that law to make the inflation assessment and, based on it, increase pensions, it is not doing this”, he said.

Gashi has demanded that discriminatory criteria for retirement be removed, especially the stages of working for 15 years until 1 January 1999.

According to him, elderly people in Kosovo live with difficulty as they say we are the only country in Europe without a pension insurance fund.

They don't appreciate us at all... Well it's not old enough, but the worst thing is aging in Kosovo... I believe that Kosovo has all had personalities who have been guided by moral values and I believe that in this business of ruling MPs will find individuals who will support us... Kosovo is the only state in Europe that does not have a pension insurance fund. We call on the government to draft the law on pension insurance funds, and that will solve all pension problems”, he concluded.

Another elderly man, Hasan Besselica, says he has consistently contributed from his salary even before the war, but since those “have disappeared” says he understands the state.

By the time I worked, we paid our retirement contribution where with those contributions today would be a huge pension, but after those vehicles disappeared you don't have anywhere to look for them, the government can't create”, he said.

Pensioner Hisen Sylejmani expresses himself revolting and unhappy with the current conditions for pensioners, saying they are in serious condition. He says for 43 years the contribution only gets 80 euros.

There are 50 percent of the people on earth at these prices. The floods don't move anywhere in the world... The medication doesn't make you think not about anything else... You don't have anything to do, these guys like you are doing... By increasing pensions by 180 euros it's nothing, 80 euros that I've been working on for 43 years because that 100 euros is getting even the one that didn't work and that's not fair... The man in Trepca has not seen light in 10 hours and is receiving 80 euros has been taken for them”, he said.

Pensioner Izet Seferin considers that the government does not value the elderly at all. He wants the government to turn their heads from pensioners.

The elderly in Kosovo are almost zeroing out... It's so good for me to grow old but it's harder for me to grow older. We're not happy at all, we've worked 45 years of retirement and we're almost social. In the 1990s until 1999, we have been removed from the violent Serbian regime in those days, those years are not accepted, and we are left with nothing... For the Government of the Parliament and those deputies who have good salaries, we ask them to fix our pensions and the years of BAR90-99 to accept the work stage and recognize the work experience of those years and to get full pension”, he said.

According to data from the United Nations Population Fund, the number of people over 65 is currently 9 percent of Kosovo's inhabitants. / KP

Retirees Chairman: Worse Than Old in Kosovo

“More than the worst thing to age in Kosovo”, pensioners protest on their day]