The government on Thursday announced the names of the members of an expert committee to discuss the state of Greece's pension funds and their future, presenting its report in about a year's time.

The decision was made during a meeting between Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis and Employment Minister Savvas Tsitouridis, who said that failure to begin dialogue and address the problems of Greece's ailing pension system might eventually affect the economy.

The committee, made up chiefly of technocrats heading government economic services and representatives of industry, employers and trade unions, will convene for the first time within August and its aim is to carry out a technical overview of the current state of pension funds and their future prospects.

The head of the Economic and Social Committee Nikos Analytis was appointed chairman and said the committee's membership may later be expanded to include representatives of the social partners and political parties that have chosen not to participate at this time.

In statements to reporters, Alogoskoufis said there was already agreement between members of the committee and the government on certain points, such as the need to curb evasion of contributions payment, making better use of funds' assets and streamlining.

Tsitouridis stressed that the current system was both chaotic, socially unfair and created inequity between successive generations.

Source: Athens News Agency

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