The Government has secured the votes to validate this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies the decree of the pension reform. If the Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, began the journey by obtaining the endorsement with Brussels and the agreement with Podemos, later he added the unions to the project, although not the employers; and from that moment on, the support of other political forces was won concession by concession.
This was the case of Bildu, with the increase in widow’s pensions, of PDECat by introducing progressivity in the solidarity quota, and yesterday, that of ERC, with the deputy Jordi Salvador announcing his favorable vote after getting the women who reduce their working hours to care for a child contribute 100% of their previous working hours.
On the other hand, what will not come is the support of the PP, which stated that they will vote no “if nothing changes”, and for the moment, they say that they have not perceived any change. “It is a kick forward, but the problem is that it endangers the future of pensions,” said his spokesperson in Congress, Cuca Gamarra.
The Government overcomes the battle of the votes and also tries to gain points in the one of the speech. In this way, Escrivá’s unexpected presence at the press conference after the Council of Ministers was explained, in which he presented a detailed report on data aimed at propping up the thesis that the reform is sustainable.
Arguments and figures accompanied by taunts to the PP. “They have gone to Brussels to criticize the reform saying that it has deficiencies and at the same time they say in Spain that they do not know about it,” Escrivá said, adding that they are “excuses, excuses, excuses, and it also makes me inconsistent.” The minister’s thesis is that the PP has all the information, including the databases, the same as that available to the European Commission and Airef; reason why he rejects his argument for not voting in favor of the reform.
Criticism of the PP was added to his arguments in favor of the sustainability of the system, something that has been questioned by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility, which last week said that the reform will increase the deficit and the debt, and that the measures of Expected revenues are not enough to offset the increased Social Security spending. It is something that Escrivá refutes because he considers that between the incentive measures and the income measures there will be enough resources during the 2030s and 2040s, which will be the ones with the greatest demographic stress.
The new income comes through more social contributions, which are achieved by uncapping the maximum bases, increasing the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI) and establishing a solidarity quota for the highest incomes. The MEI, in the form of an additional contribution of 1.2%, will feed the Social Security Reserve Fund, known as the pension piggy bank. This year the State will contribute 2,900 million to this fund, and the amount will increase to deal with the moment of maximum demographic pressure. In addition, there is an emergency mechanism that provides that, if Airef detects a lack of income, the MEI contributions will automatically and gradually increase to cover the hole.
The incentive measures are the stimuli to delay the retirement age which, according to the ministry, is already beginning to take effect. They cite, for example, that delayed retirement already accounted for 5.4% of total retirements compared to 4.7% that they accounted for in the 2014-2021 period.
