Parliament validates the pension reform with a starting point of strong imbalance in the accounts.

The Ministry of Inclusion made public on Thursday the budget execution of 2022 with this result: expenses in benefits worth 177,838 million and income from contributions of 140,282. That is, about 37,500 million difference between what is spent on pensions and other benefits and what contributors contribute. A gap that continues to be covered with transfers from the State with the justification that they are "improper expenses" of Social Security. Whatever the label, this pillar of the Spanish welfare state continues to be a serious challenge for the public coffers.

On the revenue side, the Ministeriensures that the aforementioned 140,282 million collected by social contributions "have reached a new all-time high". They grow by 8.2% compared to 2021 and 12.9% more than in 2019, before the pandemic. The collection exceeds the best expectations foreseen in the Budget. Why this increase? "The dynamism of the labour market in 2022 has been fundamental."

As for expenses, "economic benefits to families and institutions reached 177,838 million, 2.4% more than in the same period," says the Ministry of José Luis Escrivá.

Of this figure, "the largest item, 163,754 million, corresponds to pensions and contributory benefits, with an increase of 2%". And the statement highlights that if spending on pensions is analyzed exclusively, the increase is 4.9%, "3.3 points less than those that grew social contributions."

The official deficit is much lower. The Ministry places it at 0.5% of GDP, 7,160 million. Escrivá has been in favor since his arrival in office of cleaning up as much as possible of "improper expenses" the Social Security accounts to offer less alarming figures on the pension system, but the net impact on the State coffers is the same.

On this basis, the decree of the second part of the pension reform has already entered into force with validation this Thursday in Parliament. The Government has carried out a reform with a theoretical horizon until 2050 with its usual investiture partners, the surprise abstention of Vox and the vote against the main opposition party. The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, said that the reform "clearly opens the door to raise contributions and lower pensions," according to Servimedia, although they include the revaluation with the CPI. And he justified his rejection by the birth of the decree "without information, without consensus, without the Toledo Pact, without sustainability and with all the reports of Fedea, Funcas, the Bank of Spain, other entities and especially the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility against this proposal to postpone and postpone the debate on pensions until 2025 ".

It was validated in the Congress of Deputies with 179 votes in favor with the condition that it be processed as a bill to introduce amendments that partners such as Esquerra intend to take advantage of to "improve" the reform. Against, 104 votes over the PP and Citizens and abstention, led by Vox and Bildu, has registered 61.

The surprise has starred Vox. His spokesman in the debate, Pablo Sáez, has described the reform as "wrong" during a critical intervention. However, the party later said it decided to abstain when the decree included "some positive element" of improving the benefits of the system.

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