Madrid (EFE).- UGT and CCOO have hoped to be able to close a “satisfactory” pension agreement as soon as possible and have regretted that the CEOE employers have distanced themselves from the proposal presented last Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion.
In statements to the media at the IV Forum of Entrepreneurs and the Self-Employed of ATA, the UGT Deputy General Secretary for Union Policy, Fernando Luján, has indicated that in the new meeting of the social dialogue table scheduled for this afternoon with the Government and employers they want to address some “aspects to polish” with regard to minimum pensions and the gender gap.
“We are going to try to make the system prevent poor pensioners,” stressed Luján, who has acknowledged that in “broad strokes” they agree and that they hope to close the pact “as soon as possible.”
The CCOO Secretary for Public Policies and Social Protection, Carlos Bravo, has also advocated closing a “satisfactory” agreement as soon as possible and has regretted that the CEOE has no intention of joining.
“There is no justification for not having a tripartite agreement,” added Bravo.
Both have defended the need to act on the income side so that the system can face the increase in spending that the retirement of the so-called “baby boom” entails and that pensions have once again been linked to inflation.
“To make a fairer system, everyone has to contribute with their salary (…) if we want to face good pensions, we have to contribute more,” Luján has had an impact.
“There is room for this agreement on pensions and to raise wages,” added Bravo.
The Government presented the last block of the pension reform to the social agents on Friday with various measures to improve income, such as a solidarity quota in the contributions of the highest salaries or the progressive uncapping of what the maximum bases contribute.
The CEOE flatly rejected these approaches and criticized “the government’s tax collection voracity” in a reform that “endangers” job creation.
Montero sees no reason for businessmen not to share the pension reform
The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has assured this Monday that, “if Europe does not sound bad to the music” of the pension reform. “There is no reason for employers not to share that in the future we have to be able to have a public pension system that allows guarantees, social peace and dignity for the elderly.”
Words by the minister today in Toledo, at a press conference before participating in the presentation of the FEDER Castilla-La Mancha 2021-2027 European funds program, where she has contrasted the current Government proposal with the reform of the PP that was, according to Montero, “reduce purchasing power of pensioners, while the Government’s is to increase sources of Social Security income”, and the most important, he stressed, is job creation, which is what allows “a reform of this depth”.
He recalled that a couple of days ago the agreement of the PSOE with Unidas Podemos was communicated in the pension reform, “the second part of the reform that implies squaring the circle that we can revalue the pensions of the elderly now and guarantee that in Those who retire in the future also have guaranteed pensions, so that there is no detriment to the generations that have to retire compared to those that are currently retiring”.
Feijóo says the “pseudo reform” of pensions is only a “patch” until 2025
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has warned this Monday that the “pseudo-reform” of the pensions proposed by the Government with the support of its partners is only “a patch” that is “full of gaps” to “go pulling” until 2025 and end the legislature.
This was stated during his speech before the National Executive Committee of the PP regarding the agreement reached to reform pensions, in which he also criticized the fact that no attempt was made to reach a consensus with the main opposition party.
“There is no reform, only a patch until the year 2025, to keep going until the end of the legislature”, stressed Feijóo, who has insisted that in order to guarantee present and future pensions, “more employment, more economic growth and more certainties”.
The leader of the PP has stressed that they do not take charge or share the fund of the reform, because, among other things, this agreement “is based on a” succession of lies “, he has added.
In this sense, he has indicated that they “lied” when they stated that it was not necessary to make pension adjustments, also when they said that the intergenerational equity mechanism was already sufficient, and when they said that the highest incomes were going to pay for it.
“Now the prices are rising all over the world, and with intensity, including the self-employed who have been deceived again by agreeing to one thing a few weeks ago and now proposing another,” he lamented, before adding that “what Sánchez wants is that everyone pays more to get the same thing.
Díaz asks the PP to “rectify” and vote in favor of the pension reform
The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, asked this Monday the Popular Party to “rectify” and vote in favor of the pension reform agreed within the Government, and stressed that this project has received the approval of the European Commission (EC).
“For once, I ask the Popular Party to rectify, that for once they tell us that this rule is positive and that they vote in favor, that they not make the mistake they have made with the labor reform again,” said the Spanish politician in statements to the media made in Brussels, where he is participating in a meeting of employment ministers of the European Union (EU).
Díaz stressed that the agreement on the pension reform in the Government is “great news” for Spain.
“I think that what the Popular Party has done has been very serious. I would like the Popular Party to defend its country for once in its life”, he said.