Deputy Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation, Olta Manjani, announced on Tuesday that the government is drafting a new pension reform backed by World Bank experts.

According to Manjani, the main request of the European Union is to have an equal retirement age for men and women, which should be 67 years old, before the year 2056.

In the context of the pension reform, Manjani emphasized, the government has requested a transitional period from the EU. According to her, it is a practice that is often followed.

She informed me that the Economy Ministry is still in the discussion phase on how long this transition period will be regarding the equalization of the retirement age between men and women. “We have historically had a 5-year gap in the retirement age of men and women. Before the reform that came into force in 2015, the age of men was 55 and that of women was 50. We increased it to 65 for men and 60 for women,” Manjani declared.

According to her, the EU condition is that at the moment of full membership, there should be equality between the ages of men and women.

“We are increasing the retirement age by 2 months every year and women retire at 61 years and two months, while for men who retired at 65 years, it is foreseen that by 2056 we will have equal retirement age for men and women, which will be 67 years. But the EU wants this transitional period to be shorter, so it should happen before 2056. It is a period that we are still negotiating to agree on how long the transition period will be,” she said.

Manjani announced that the transition period will apply to all people who are still part of the workforce. "If we are going to decide that the equalization of the retirement age will happen by 2040 or 2045, we will have to foresee in our legislation that the growth period for women will be relatively faster since their retirement age is lower, and for men, it will be a little more gradual. It is important that at the moment we enter the EU we have agreed on the transitional period and after this period this age should be equalized", she said.

According to Manjani, the aim is for this process to be as easy as possible, without creating distortions of facilities in the labor market.

Many countries are moving towards equal retirement ages for both genders, often achieved by raising the retirement age for women to match that of men. This shift is driven by factors like changing social views on gender equality and the need to ensure the long-term viability of pension systems.