Pensions: here is the breakdown of the ‘Quotas’ system and other flexibility measures

The flexible retirement arrangements have resulted in total costs of approximately 41.3 billion euros over the period 2019–2025. This cost is comparable to the expenditure resulting from the introduction of measures to tackle poverty, which amounts to around €45.2 billion.

The report by the State General Accounting Office on medium- to long-term trends in the pension and social care system highlights that, cumulatively over the period 2019–2025, the costs of measures allowing flexible access to retirement amount to approximately 41.3 billion euros, with a ‘corresponding increase in debt, to which must be added the further effects of reduced economic growth resulting from these measures, which lead to a reduction in employment levels and the consequent potential growth’.

In this regard, it should be noted that, with the 2026 Budget Act, the Meloni government has tightened the rules on flexible retirement options, but in the political debate, the Lega, through the Under-Secretary for Labour Claudio Durigon, has put forward a proposal to extend early retirement to the age of 64 for workers who began paying contributions before 1996.

The RGS refers to the flexible retirement arrangements introduced by Decree-Law No. 4 of 2019, which allowed people, on a temporary or pilot basis, to retire before meeting the standard requirements set out in the Fornero reform. In subsequent years, these measures were extended or replaced by similar ones. These include ‘Quota 100’ (retirement at the age of 62 with at least 38 years’ contributions), replaced in 2022 by ‘Quota 102’ (age 64 and 38 years’ contributions) and, from 2023, by ‘Quota 103’ (age 62 and 41 years of contributions). There is also the ‘Opzione Donna’ scheme, reserved for certain categories of female workers, offering early access to a pension calculated entirely using the contributory method – which is generally less favourable – and which has been extended several times with modified eligibility criteria and target groups. The freeze on life expectancy adjustments for early retirement also contributed 41.3 billion to the cost, whilst maintaining the contribution requirement for ordinary early retirement (42 years and 10 months for men, 41 years and 10 months for women), thereby avoiding the increase that would otherwise have been due to the rise in life expectancy.

The average age at which people retire is 64.9 years