Unespa criticizes the reform of Escrivá's pension plans: "It cannot be considered a good political decision"

• Pensiones Escrivá charges against the "opinionists and smart-alecks" who doubt his reforms

Almost at the same time that the Minister of Social Security,

, charged in Madrid against the "opinists and smart-alecks" who doubt his reform of the pension system, the president of

,

, exposed in Santander the reasons why he considers that it is neither "good" nor "right", according to the consequences it has had on pension plans.

According to data from the insurance employers, the net sign of liquidity of these plans changed radically in 2021 as a result of the reduction from 2,000 to 1,500 in the limit of the maximum contributions that may have a tax benefit in the Income statement.

"An economic policy cannot be described as good or correct if it causes earthquakes like this one. A political decision that creates this type of dynamic - the immediate collapse of the figures -

, González de Frutos said during its participation in the XXXIX APIE Seminar 'Sustainability and digitization: the levers of recovery' held in the Cantabrian capital.

According to the latest

balance sheet , the volume of contributions to Individual Plans accumulated from the beginning of the year to May fell by 16% compared to the same period in 2021, to 783 million euros.

And the worst, in the opinion of the president of Unespa, is not only this reduction, but also that this saving has not been transferred to the collective plans as Escrivá intends to encourage.

"What the individual pension solutions have lost, which are the ones that have been fiscally unassisted, the collective ones have not gained. Contrary to what was announced to us,

has said, and as a consequence, we Spaniards "save less".

"What has happened is not that the savings have been transferred, what has happened is that they have slowed down, they have disappeared, they have stopped being generated. We have, therefore, done a very bad business by erasing what we had, because we have not painted anything new in its place," he lamented.

González de Frutos' presentation has been especially critical of the reform promoted by the Department led by Escrivá.

The minister participated almost at the same time in a forum of the Expansión newspaper in which he charged against the

that in his opinion are maintained by the defenders of a "crazed reform" such as the one carried out in 2013 by the PP to limit system spending with "massive cuts" in pensions.

"

: everything they say is false, we are going to have a balanced budget in the system," he said, reports

.

Concern in the industry

It was not an intentional exchange of messages between the president of Unespa and the minister, but both have coincided in time, highlighting the concern that exists in the sector regarding the effects of the changes.

Regarding the convenience of the current plan to balance and improve collective well-being, De Frutos has said that "it is not designed in the best way" and that "a golden opportunity to do things well has been lost."

In his opinion, there are several arguments that explain his position, among them, the

for workers to opt for business plans;

the lack of incentives for entrepreneurs to promote them in their companies and the slowness in their future implementation.

Regarding the lack of incentives for citizens to bet on individual plans with a medium and long-term vision, the president of Unespa has also warned that this can push Spanish savers "towards the subscription of more speculative products, more short-term , less controlled, non-finalists and in many cases, linked to housing, so it

like the one that caused us economic damage 14 years ago from which, partially, we are still recovering Is this really what we want?" he asked.

Instead, the construction of the second pillar needs "more ambition, flexibility and measures focused on the concept of public-private collaboration".

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• Jose Luis Escriva