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It is only a matter of days until Germany starts handing out billions in aid to the Greeks, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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That means that with a broke Athens seeking outside help, Germany and the rest of the EU aid givers must start pouring cash into the bottomless Greek pension pit...

By D. HOEREN

It is only a matter of days until Germany starts handing out billions in aid to the Greeks, according to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But for some experts, Greece is just a bottomless pit. And now anger is increasing in Germany, with many asking why they should pay for things like the luxury Greek pension system.

• Especially startling: Anyone who started receiving their money before 1993 and had been working for 35 years can, according to Eurostat, count on an 80 per cent pension (related to average earnings over the last five working years). Anyone beginning after 1993 would get 70 per cent.

• In Germany, the number lies between 46 and, in the future, 42 per cent. It is related to the average wage of the entire working life.

• The Greeks receive 14 pension payments a year – monthly plus an extra one at Easter and at Christmas. Germans only get 12 instalments.

• Pensions increase in Greece at a rate usually higher than the consumer price index. Between 2004 and 2006, there was a pay freeze on pensions in Germany but Greeks saw a 11 per cent rise. It is only now that levels have been frozen there.

• The Greeks have to pay contributions towards pensions, but – unlike in Germany – not towards health care or social costs.

And then there is another strange special Greek provision: Unmarried daughters of soldiers and police officers inherit the pensions of their fathers and receive it for the rest of their lives.

Will Germans soon have to take on the responsibility for that?

The fact is that in Greece, the employee's contribution is only 6.67 per cent of the gross wage compared to 9.95 per cent in Germany. The government contributes a subsidy from tax revenues.

That means that with a broke Athens seeking outside help, Germany and the rest of the EU aid givers must start pouring cash into the bottomless Greek pension pit...

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