The Platform for Seniors and Pensioners (PMP) has rejected the “catastrophic” forecasts that warn of an alleged bankruptcy of the public pension system in Spain. In this way, he agrees with the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, who has defended the support from Brussels to the Spanish pension system, accepting new challenges such as the aging of the population or the retirement of the ‘baby boom’.
Retirees and pensioners emphasize that they do not agree with the debate that has opened in recent days in which an “artificial confrontation” between generations is being seen. The organization has relied on the report prepared by economist Antonio González, who is vice president of Economists Against the Crisis and who denies that the increase in spending constitutes a structural crisis, attributing it to temporary factors.
The increase in pressure on the system until mid-century is a response to the retirement of the so-called baby boom, which is “temporary and transitory.” Starting in 2050, the dependency rate, which measures the proportion between the active and inactive population, would stop increasing and would reduce once the effect of this generation fades.
The financial sustainability of the public pension system
One of the most notable points of the analysis is the criticism of the Social Security accounts. The platform denounces the existence of a “big deficit lie,” which it attributes to what it describes as “accounting traps.” According to this thesis, part of the imbalance is explained because expenses that would correspond to the State are imputed to the system, while certain transfers would have been “unfairly” replaced by loans, artificially inflating the debt.
Peak spending will be below 15% of GDP in 2050, a level that, in the opinion of its authors, would be “manageable for a modern economy.” At the same time, he questions the projections of the European Commission, which he accuses of being based on “unrealistic” assumptions, such as the hypothesis of a drop in employment associated with the freezing of migratory flows.
Generational conflict over pensions
It is not just about analyzing figures because the debate on the public pension system goes further. The report rejects the idea of a generational conflict around pensions and maintains that the deterioration of the economic conditions of young people responds to factors such as unemployment and “salary austerity” derived from the 2008 crisis. In fact, according to the data it manages, from 2021 the disposable income of young people would be growing at a faster rate than that of retirees.
The president of the platform, Jesús Norberto Fernández, shifts the axis of the conflict towards the distribution of wealth. In his opinion, the real problem lies in the “1% of the population with the highest incomes”, who, according to him, bear an insufficient tax burden. In this context, he warns against the use of youth unrest as an argument to “dismantle the rights of older people.”
The position of the PMP is found in a broader debate about the future of the welfare state in Spain, marked by the aging of the population and fiscal tensions. While international organizations and part of the academy insist on the need for structural adjustments, other voices, such as that of this group, emphasize the room for maneuver offered by variables such as economic growth, the evolution of the labor market or fiscal policy.