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The Government reaches a political agreement with social agents to reform pensions

2021-05-30T06:23:49.217Z


The CEOE employers' association warns that the final approval depends on the final text of the reform


The ministers Yolanda Díaz (Labor) and José Luis Escrivá (Social Security), this Thursday in Madrid followed by the representatives of the social agents: Unai Sordo (general secretary of CC OO, in the center of the image), Gerardo Cuerva (president de Cepyme) and Pepe Álvarez (general secretary of UGT, in the background) FERNANDO VILLAR / EFE

"There is agreement", says UGT; “The political pact is closed; fringes remain ”, adds CC OO. "There is consensus in the general lines," explain CEOE sources, who still warn that they will fight until the last comma. The Government has reached a political agreement with the employers and the unions on the main lines of the pension reform. The Executive already has the approval of the UGT, CC OO and CEOE to the main axes of this reform, according to the sources consulted in Social Security and the social agents, although the employer maintains reservations about the final text, which will be ready in just a few days, according to both the Government and the social agents.

Robert Skidelski, the biographer of one of the great economists of the last century, John M. Keynes, says that the loss of the redistributive capacity of the welfare state "is murdering capitalism and democracy." Spain has agreed with Brussels a package of reforms in exchange for 140,000 million to try to reverse that trend, after the Great Recession and the Spanish bank rescue forced to make a set of reforms that were more like a set of cuts 10 years ago. years. This time is supposed to be different: on paper, reform is no longer synonymous with scissors. But that will be able to begin to be verified soon: the Government has reached a political agreement with unions and employers for the first tranche of the pension reform, according to sources from CC OO, from UGT,of the CEOE employer and the Ministry of Social Security. The final fringes and the final wording remain, with its devilish technical details. While waiting for the job, the Executive thus carries out its first major reform in line with the Recovery Plan. But the toughest pension issues are left for later: They won't be approved until 2022.

Minister José Luis Escrivá was in a hurry to reach an agreement on a reform that gave him enormous headaches a few months ago due to the proposal, finally not presented, to increase the calculation period (up to 35 years of contributions) in the calculation of pensions . With the labor reform in full negotiation, Escrivá scores the first far-reaching reform, although with that trick of leaving the most tricky for next year. “The big questions are fully agreed; some fringes remain and we are well on top of the final text, which will be ready in a few days, maybe next week ”, according to sources from CC OO, who intend to include an explicit reference to minimum and non-contributory pensions. UGT gives the agreement as "closed", always in the absence of the final text,more complicated than in other matters due to the importance of the details in a matter of devilish complexity.

CEOE sees the glass as half empty. Although he admits that there is already consensus on the general lines, he remembers that there is still work on the entire normative text and that any slight alteration of the wording can generate problems, even more so if one takes into account that the CEOE's social dialogue commission has 280 pending members of that agreement. Social Security sources point out that the pact was closed first with UGT, after a few days with Commissions and finally with CEOE, in the absence of the aforementioned details and after agreeing on the extension of the temporary employment regulation files (ERTE), one of the mechanisms that have allowed the crisis associated with the pandemic to have had less impact on employment than in previous recessions.

In Spain there are currently 3.4 people of working age for every person over 64 years of age. Spending on contributory pensions is close to 11% of GDP, but demographic and economic forecasts place that figure above 15% in 2050, according to data from the Spain 2050 report. Social Security handles more optimistic scenarios. And he trusts that the crux of the reform will reduce that data to guarantee the sustainability of the system. What follows is a summary of the four main axes already agreed: repeal of part of the 2013 reform, revaluation of benefits with the CPI, reinforcement of the system's income structure, and incentives to stop early retirements and favor the delayed retirement.

Revaluation.

The maintenance of the purchasing power of pensions is guaranteed by the revaluation with the CPI - inflation - of the previous year. In the event of negative inflation, pensions will remain unchanged. The reform of the PP of 2013 is thus repealed, which forced to revalue pensions by 0.25% if the accounts were not balanced.

Align ordinary age and effective retirement age.

Escrivá has agreed with the social agents to modify the coefficients for early retirement, the new incentives for delayed retirement, the modification of partial retirement and the reform of the forced retirement clauses. With this he wants to increase the participation of the elderly in the labor market, with activity rates among the lowest in the OECD. That, according to the academic literature usually cited by Social Security, does not harm young people. In the case of voluntary early retirement, pension reduction coefficients will be applied to discourage it; In the case of moderate retirement, Social Security proposes a single payment of up to 11,000 euros per year or an additional 4% in the pension for each year of delay.

Self-employed

. Escrivá wanted a system of tranches to guarantee that the self-employed contribute by their real income, between 90 and 1,220 euros per month depending on the income. Finally, the initial table proposal has been withdrawn, but the commitment enters now and in principle the sections will be defined in the normative text: the idea is to put it into operation in 2022 with economic effects in 2023 - and a transitory period of nine years. , but Social Security avoids specifying the amounts.

Income.

Budget injections into the system are guaranteed to reduce the deficit. These include improper expenses borne by Social Security and another 10,000 million contributions that will go on to finance pensions and that previously financed employment policies that will be covered by the budget. This year about 14,000 million will be injected, and another 8,500 million could be added.

The hardest, in 2022.

Escrivá will address with unions and employers the repeal of the sustainability factor (a mechanism established in 2011 to adjust the pension according to life expectancy), which will be replaced by a mechanism that guarantees equity between generations, even to define. Among the pending issues are the controversial adaptation of the calculation period to the new realities of the labor market; guarantee the access of common-law partners to the widow's pension; reform the maximum pensions (the maximum contribution ceiling will disappear), and the implementation of social security systems complementary to public pensions.

Source: elparis

All business articles on 2021-05-30

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