Pensioners invited to lunch with the mayor of Novi Sad: food, drinks and a 4,800-dinar PIO coupon

Several pensioners in Novi Sad received an invitation to lunch with mayor Žarko Mićin on October 6 — along with a 4,800-dinar coupon from the pension fund, ahead of the October 25 parliamentary elections, Danas reports.

As the Danas newspaper reports, the pensioners were invited to lunch with mayor Žarko Mićin at 11:30 a.m. on October 6 at a restaurant on the city’s Ribarsko (Ribarac) island. According to the invitation, attendees will also receive a 4,800-dinar coupon from the Republican Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO).

“Notice: on October 6 at 11:30 a.m., whoever wants to, the mayor is taking you to lunch in Ribarac, while the PIO Fund will distribute 4,800 dinars as a coupon. Meet and depart again in front of post office No. 3. Please confirm for both by Thursday!” read the message a pensioner showed to Danas, adding that she received the invitation from an acquaintance at the local pensioners’ council.

Danas’s source said she does not plan to attend and is hearing about the 4,800-dinar PIO coupons for the first time. “They told me that those inviting us have to gather as many pensioners as possible, with full names, and that’s a problem for them, because not everyone wants to go, although it’s clear money is being handed out,” she said, adding that some pensioners will go because “every dinar matters, even these less than 50 euros.”

The newspaper notes that after the pensioner aid and the distribution of 6,000 dinars to all citizens, this may be the next opportunity to benefit ahead of the October 25 parliamentary elections. Danas recalls that last year, local media in Požega reported that at a rented venue, SNS officials organized a meeting where PIO Fund coupons of the same value — 4,800 dinars — were distributed. The newsroom, as Danas itself writes, is still awaiting responses from mayor Mićin and the Republican Pension and Disability Insurance Fund regarding these coupons and the distribution criteria, and will publish them as soon as they arrive.

Meanwhile, mayor Mićin is touring Novi Sad and its surroundings as part of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) campaign, having visited Čurug and Rumenka in recent days.