Estonian Officials Criticize Second Pension Pillar Liberalization
Estonia's finance minister and prime minister strongly condemn the previous parliament's decision to allow citizens to withdraw savings from the second pension pillar, calling it a financial mistake.
Current Estonian officials are critically evaluating the 2020 decision to liberalize the second pension pillar. On January 29, 2020, a protest took place outside the Estonian parliament against this initiative, but the parliament approved it with a vote of 56 to 45.
Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi called the decision the stupidest Estonia has ever made. He stated that everyone will be losers, as people who withdrew the money will need social support in the future. In his view, the savings were spent on short-term entertainment.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal from the Reform Party expressed a similar opinion, saying that the abolition of the second pension pillar and the encouragement to withdraw money was one of the biggest financial violations ever committed against people's sense of security and their future.
