Social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner’s suggestion that the pension age be raised to 70 has been condemned by MPs from across the political spectrum in Monday’s papers.

Christian Democrat Donner made the comment in an interview with Saturday’s Telegraaf, saying a sharp rise in the retirement age was unavoidable.
In particular, the CDA’s coalition partners – Labour and the orthodox Christian ChristenUnie – reacted furiously, the AD reports on Monday. The paper says ministers had agreed before the summer to work on reducing the amount of people taking early retirement and not to talk about raising the pension age.
A government commission last month recommended raising the pension age to 67.
Unions are also angry at Donner’s call for wage moderation to reduce inflation, made in the same interview. ‘Dutch unions are always very restrained in their wage demands,’ a spokesman for the CNV union federation told Trouw.
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