The European Union’s top economic affairs official, Pierre Moscovici, warned on Wednesday that Greece’s latest proposal to cut the cost of its pension system is ambitious but still falls short of creditors’ demands.

Reducing Greek spending on pensions is a key demand in Greece’s €86-billion bailout, agreed in July with the country’s eurozone partners after six months of bitter talks.

Greece spends more on pensions than any other EU country, and has proposed a wide-ranging plan that has been broadly welcomed by the country’s creditors, but with questions still remaining.

“This plan is global and has an ambition that is clearly greater than what has been done in the past,” Moscovici told AFP in an interview at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

“But that said, we believe that serious discussions are still needed to fix the right parameters,” he added.

Source: AFP