Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stated Finland's current government has made a clear choice not to touch pension benefits during its term. He appeared on a traditional Sunday interview program where he addressed retirement system challenges.
Orpo said Finland must continuously evaluate whether the retirement age rises quickly enough through the built-in life expectancy coefficient. This mechanism automatically adjusts retirement age based on increasing life expectancy.
"For now, I believe the life expectancy-based model raises the retirement age and largely meets the need," Orpo stated. "This requires constant assessment."
The Prime Minister emphasized he would primarily focus on retirement age rather than pension levels. He didn't rule out any future measures when parties consider objectives for upcoming electoral periods.
"During this term, we've made a clear limitation that we haven't touched pensions," Orpo explained. "We've actually strengthened the pension system by approximately one billion euros from a public finance perspective. This has been this government's value choice."
Orpo noted the next government program negotiations will occur in about a year and a half. The next discussion phase will focus on the following electoral period.
Regarding climate policy, Orpo confirmed the government maintains its carbon neutrality target for 2035. He acknowledged the biggest challenge lies in the land use sector and carbon sinks.
"We need to find new ways to achieve the target," Orpo said. He indicated Finland might not need to compensate for land use sector shortcomings with additional cuts in transportation and housing emissions, noting such measures would prove "extremely expensive."
The government's position reflects the political difficulty of pension reforms in Finland, where the aging population creates ongoing pressure on public finances while pensioners represent a significant voting bloc.