“By no means” will there be an exception due to high inflation

“no way”. Social Security Minister Jose Luis Eskriva and Israeli Secretary of State Israel Arroyo on Monday directly rejected any exceptions or changes in the annual increase in pensions given the inflation caused by the Ukraine war. Eskriva and Arroyo reiterated that pensions would rise along with prices, with the average CPI for the year as agreed by the “broad consensus” in pension reform, recalled the head of social security.

Both heads of the ministry insisted this morning that the government will implement last December’s pension reform to regulate the annual renewal of pensions, according to the annual average index from December to November, in response to questions from journalists. There will be some kind of change amid a big price boom.

These exemptions from the renewal of pensions according to the CPI are required by some economic circles, especially liberal circles, within the so-called “income pact”, which calls on the public to distribute the economic damage caused by the war in Ukraine. .

A certain type of exception was also suggested by the Governor of the Bank of Spain. Pablo Hernandez de Coss confirmed that in the case of the lowest pensions, he tends to maintain a price index, but that in higher pensions “it can be estimated” not to use this formula.

Reform has “very high consensus”

The Minister clarified that he “will not appreciate” the use of exceptions to the increase in pensions. “No, because we will take a very short-term approach to a very long-term issue. “I will not take such an approach under any circumstances,” said Jose Luis Eskriva.

The Social Security official recalled that the pension reform that came back to collect the annual renewal under the CPI under Mariano Rajoy’s legislation had reached a “very high consensus”. This was endorsed by trade unions and employers in social dialogue and also implemented by a large political majority in Parliament.

Jose Luis Eskriva stressed the need to maintain stability and “consensus” in pension legislation in order to avoid change and uncertainty in the face of constant changes in retirees. In this regard, he criticized the 2013 PP pension reform, which was halted due to a lack of political and social support.

“The sustainability of pensions will be considered after 30 years, not a month,” said Eskriva, who called for a vote not to increase pensions under the CPI as part of a “very interested debate” and that “it has very short-term assessments.” . The minister stressed that in the debate over the sustainability of pensions, along with spending, it is very important to take into account income, which rose more than expected last year and left the body deficit at its lowest level since 2013.

Finally, the minister believed that the measures of the National Response Plan to the invasion of Ukraine and the gas price restrictions imposed by Spain and Portugal with the EU would lead to a “rapid” fall in gas prices. In general, inflation in the “coming months”. Nevertheless, Escrivá argues that it is too early to know how average inflation will end by the end of the year.