WARSAW: Poland's lower house of parliament approved a cut in the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women on Wednesday, voting records showed. Lowering the retirement age was one of the major election promises of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and its ally, President Andrzej Duda. Many economists and the opposition have criticised the move as too expensive for the budget.
"We have kept our word," Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said in parliament before the vote. "We have tackled the problems of ordinary Poles, and not of the elites."
The previous centrist government of the Civic Platform (PO)party, ousted by PiS in last year's election, raised the retirement age to ease the pressure on the budget, lifting it gradually to 67 years old for both men and women.
Poland's population of 38 million is one of the most rapidly-aging in the European Union.
The cut in the retirement age still needs to be approved by the PiS-dominated Senate and the president before it enters into law.
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