Escrivá confirms that the period for calculating the pension will not be extended to 35 years: "In no case"

This Monday begins the negotiation of the latest package of changes in the pension reform and Minister José Luis Escrivá has emphatically cleared up a first question that still hovers in the debate: the period for calculating the pension will not be extended to 35 years. "In no case are we talking about 35 years," said the person in charge of Social Security in an interview early in the morning on RNE.

The decisive negotiation of the future of pensions starts next Monday

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The computation period to calculate the future pension is one of the issues that will be addressed by the social dialogue negotiating table that starts on September 12. Minister José Luis Escrivá has reiterated that his proposal involves touching several "levers" in this regard. One of them is the extension of the period, as announced to Brusselswhich today is fixed in the last 25 years of work career.

But this extension would go hand in hand "at the same time" with two other possible levers: the option of discarding the "worst years" of contributions by workers and/or "an improvement in the treatment of gaps" in the career of worked. "We have to discuss with the social agents what the best combination is," said the minister.

35 years no, "small adjustments"

Asked about the possibility of the period being extended to 35 years, as was shuffled in the past and generated great controversy in the Executive, the Minister of Social Security has reiterated that this figure does not appear in the Ministry's proposal. “In no case are we talking about 35 years. We are talking about small adjustments for this element of fairness, ”he assured.

The minister explained that this reform affects the “equity” of the system, “that the system be more equitable from the point of view of the new professional careers”. "The traditional approach to professional careers where the last years of trading are the best" is no longer fulfilled as much, Escrivá pointed out.

"Unfortunately, for almost one in three workers, their last years of contribution are no longer the best, so we have to turn around how the reference period for the pension is determined," he maintained. Escrivá has hoped to once again reach a consensus with the social agents on how to do it, as in the first block of the pension reform and in the self-employed.

Increase in the maximum pension and contribution

The second change in this last phase of the pension reform will entail “an increase in the maximum pension”, explained José Luis Escrivá, who pointed out that in Spain it is lower than in other neighboring countries.

This will go hand in hand with an increase in what the highest salaries contribute, from the maximum contribution base, now at 4,139.40 euros per month. Above that amount, salaries do not contribute to Social Security, with a logic linked to the fact that public pensions also have a maximum (2,819.5 euros per month). Both variables will be increased in a "progressive" and "smooth" manner, the minister has maintained.

Escrivá has highlighted that this point has "a virtuality" from the point of view of the sustainability of the public pension system: incomes increase in "the decades of the 30s and 40s", which is where the greatest challenge for the system exists by the retirement of the baby boomers, and although spending will increase later, this is a time when Social Security accounts will be less stressed, he has argued.