• Demonstration. And Congress (again) surrounded itself with pensioners: "We do not accept 0.9% of Sánchez, only the real CPI"
  • In 2020, the acting Government commits to Brussels to increase 0.9% in pensions and 2% in the salary of civil servants

Just one day after the Government of Pedro Sánchez communicated to Brussels that, despite being in office, pensions will rise by 0.9% next year, around 8,000 pensioners surrounded the Congress of Deputies yesterday to reject that increase because they considered it insufficient and asked for a revaluation with the "real CPI" indefinitely. And Sánchez, without explaining that "real CPI" is nothing other than inflation and that this is precisely what he has already done, he hastened to accept.

«Thousands of pensioners demonstrate today [yesterday] in Madrid asking for decent pensions. His claim is fair. Our commitment: to guarantee their sustainability, to revalue them according to the real CPI, to shield the public pension system in the Constitution ”, said the president of the Government in functions in his Twitter social network account only a few hours after the pensioners collapsed in the center from Madrid. Requirement realized, demand accepted .

However, Sanchez did not explain how he will fulfill that promise, let alone advance what he proposes to deal with the huge mortgage that would entail linking pensions indefinitely to inflation. Many organizations and study services have already warned of this, but probably the most impressive figure is that offered by Fedea: 327,000 million euros of accumulated cost throughout the life of the beneficiaries .

"If the suppression of the IRP were permanent, and considering only the effects of the measure on the population already retired in 2017, this figure would rise to 327,000 million at constant prices of 2018", concludes Ángel de la Fuente, director of the Foundation of Studies of Applied Economics and one of the largest experts in Spain in pensions. And then, in your document, how much does it cost to update pensions with inflation? De la Fuente adds that to this enormous figure "the increase in benefits received by subsequent cohorts of new retirees should be added to reach the total cost of the return to indexation to the CPI."

That is, the calculation refers to the cumulative cost that would entail linking existing pensions to inflation for the entire life of the beneficiaries, but that the effort to do the same with future pensioners would still have to be added .

The Bank of Spain, on the other hand, warned a few weeks ago that the indexation questioned the viability of Social Security pensions, and supported its warning in no less compelling data. "Linking pensions to the CPI would increase spending by two percentage points of GDP in 2030 and more than three in 2050," which represents an increase in annual spending of 24,000 million and 36,000 million more, respectively. And Enrique Devesa, doctor in Economics and another of the great connoisseurs of the pension system, estimates that only the decision to raise benefits 0.9% in 2020 yields a cumulative cost of 10,000 million .

Why do pensioners protest?

In the debate about the future of the system the proposals between parties, pensioners and economists are increasingly divergent. The thousands of pensioners who concentrated yesterday in Madrid sent to Meritxell Batet, president of the Congress, a series of requests that go beyond the one to fix to the IPC to revaluation of the benefits .

Although no political party dares to question the demands of the collective, the State Coordinator for the Defense of the Public Pension System expressed their distrust yesterday « rejecting the Toledo Pact Commission for not contributing to correct the mismanagement of the system ». They demand that it be an "independent advisory body away from permanent political debate" that is responsible for guaranteeing the system and improving it.

Thus, in addition to the repeal of the last two reforms of the system , they propose to repeal the labor reforms, a minimum pension of 1,084 euros, withdraw Social Security expenses to promote employment, cancel the health co-payment as well as the cap of social contributions .

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Pensions
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Social Security

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