Pensioners in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not give up the protests scheduled for October 27, but only prolonged them, announced last week from the Association of Associations of Pensioners FBiH.
They emphasized that their fight for dignified pensions and a fairer distribution system is not over, and that the protests will take place as soon as all the organizational conditions are met.
They reject changes to Article 81 of the Law on PIO
The Federation of Pensioners clearly states that they reject the proposed changes to Article 81 of the Pension and Disability Insurance Act (PIO), considering them harmful and unfair.
According to the proposed changes, the pension for persons with between 15 and 20 years of service could not be lower than 60 percent of the average pension in FBiH from December of the previous year. In practice, this would mean that, considering the current average pension of 651.49 KM, the lowest pension for this category would be around 390 KM.
According to the current law, a person who retires with these conditions today receives 599 KM, which means that the new changes would significantly harm him.
“We don’t want Article 81 to fall on the backs of us pensioners. We are protesting about the lowest pensions of 600 KM – how could we then support someone’s pension being 400 KM?”, Mustafa Trakić, a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Associations of Pensioners in FBiH, told Faktor.
Instead of an extraordinary increase – one-time aid
When asked what measure was planned instead of an extraordinary increase in pensions, Trakić clarified that the authorities accepted a different solution:
“It has been accepted that instead of an extraordinary increase, pensioners will receive a one-time benefit at the end of the year, a kind of 13th pension, and the amount will depend on the length of service. The new thing is that new pensioners will no longer have to wait for April 15 to increase the calculation point – everyone will receive it immediately from January.”
He added that this measure is a step forward, because in this way pensioners will more easily endure inflationary shocks and the reduction of purchasing power that hit them hard in previous years.
A new pension adjustment system from 2026.
According to the amendments prepared by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the new pension adjustment model should enter into force on January 1, 2026.
From then on, pensions would be adjusted twice a year – on January 1 and July 1, and the calculation would be based on a combination of the growth of the average salary and the growth of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The proposed model envisages a flexible formula that depends on which of the two indicators – wages or living costs – grows faster:
If the cost of living rises faster than wages, the formula 60% CPI + 40% of wages is used.
If wages are rising faster, 40% CPI + 60% of wages apply.
Transitional period and security for the most vulnerable
The transitional period begins on January 1, 2026, and then pensions will be adjusted according to the total increase in wages and prices in 2025. In this way, pensioners should smoothly transition to the new system without loss of income.
Also, the legal obligation of two regular adjustment of pensions per year is introduced, which abolishes the previous practice of extraordinary adjustment, which was the discretionary right of the Government.
All existing rights of beneficiaries of disability and family pensions are retained, and the lowest pension amounts remain legally guaranteed.
The new system, the Ministry claims, should ensure the stability, fairness and predictability of the pension system in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the pensioners say that they will not agree to solutions that diminish their already hard-earned rights.
“There is no compromise when it comes to the existence of people who have worked and contributed to the system all their lives,” says the Federation of Pensioners’ Associations of FBiH, writes Focus.
