Pension reform can wait

“The retirement age for public service workers will be raised to 65 in 2015,” announces Jornal de Negócios. News of the reform schedule comes as a surprise, because “it contradicts an agreement in the framework of the stability and growth pact ironed out in Brussels last March,” notes the business daily. Seeking to combat the public spending deficit, the government was apparently committed to implementing the measure in 2012 or 2013. Now Minister for Finance Teixeira dos Santos argues that “in the context of the austerity measures which have already been established, it won’t have much impact on the budget.” As it stands, Portugal’s civil servants retire at age 62 and a half.