In Greece, Retirees' Raises Lost to Inflation in 6 Years: Fear and Politics

One of the greatest political and communication successes of the Miçotakis government in Greece has emerged from its extremely effective management of the voting potential of retirees. The most critical group that enabled the New Democracy (ND) party to come to power alone in the 2023 general elections was undoubtedly the retirees. Retirees demonstrated their loyalty to the parties with all their privileges, but the government did not respond to this support with practical and concrete economic improvements. According to a detailed study jointly prepared by the CEPAL and IOBE institutions, the real income of retirees has been completely frozen in the six-year period between 2019 and 2025. This situation is evaluated as a concrete and ruthless reflection of the austerity policies, inherited from the past and now normalized in the country, on the retirees.

Election period polls and exit polls clearly reveal the background of the government's success. It is confirmed by official data that the core pillar of the victory won by New Democracy in the second round of the 2023 elections was the retirees' votes. In this process, the statements made to the public by Ketrugalo, a former member of the Sol Syriza coalition and a former minister, became one of the most important factors that triggered the fears of retirees and pushed them to the right. Ketrugalo deeply disturbed the electorate by defending the social security reforms that came after the 2015 economic crisis and made retirees pay heavy prices, namely the law named after him. Thanks to this communication strategy, the traumatic memory of the economic collapse in 2015 was kept fresh in the voters' minds, and this provided invaluable political rent to the current government. Furthermore, the increasing proportion of retirees within the voter base and the much higher participation rate of the elderly population compared to the youth (turnout rates dropping to 25 percent) have cemented the success of this political strategy.

Unfortunately, this deep political trust in the government could not find any positive reflection in the daily lives or wallets of retirees. The findings of the CEPAL/IOBE study show that, despite all the government's promises, retirees are faced with an extremely bitter picture in terms of their real incomes. While the average main public sector pension was 1162 euros in 2019, it increased to 1235 euros in 2025; however, this nominal increase remained at a low level of 6.3 percent. This nominal increase was completely eroded by the high inflation accumulated over the years and even caused pensions to lose approximately 11 percent of their real value. A similar picture is observed among private sector retirees; although salaries seem to have increased from 730 euros to 884 euros, inflationary pressure has almost completely nullified this increase. As a result, the purchasing power level of the elderly population has taken a blow so heavy that it leaves both the austerity period and the Miçotakis government behind. The government's approach to retirees is criticized with emphasis on toughness attributed to the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. While all European countries have begun to heal the wounds of severe economic crises and austerity programs, the attitude towards retirees in Greece has not changed, despite the government having significant fiscal surpluses. The group bearing the brunt of these ruthless policies consists of citizens over the age of 65, whose biological time is increasingly running out; because according to 2025 data, 86 percent of retirees make up this age group. In addition, this elderly population bears the heaviest burden of 'bad' loans and private debts that were formed during the 2008 global financial crisis and subsequent bank failures, and which still persist. These debts, transferred to collection management companies and funds, continue to drive individuals who lost their jobs during the crisis and are now stepping into retirement into a deep financial impasse.

In the background of Greek politics, the government continues to use the element of fear as its biggest and most effective weapon. Government officials predict, through private polls, that the support from retirees will remain at an impressive level of 40 percent in the next election. Considering the dramatic drop in real incomes and the increasing pressure of private debt in the 2019-2025 period, this expectation emerges as a highly surprising scenario. At the basis of this magical success of the government lies the strategy of constantly keeping the fear of the 2015 crisis alive in the retirees' subconscious. This manipulative pressure on the electorate has become a shelter that allows the government to ignore economic hardships and prevents a fair distribution of welfare. As a result, in Greek politics, fear continues to exist as a political argument more powerful than anything else, preventing individuals from seeing their own interests and allowing the government to continuously evade its responsibilities.