The latest OECD report on Spain highlights the biggest economic (and therefore political) problem Spain will face in the coming years: pension sustainability. In 2050, Spain will be the country that spends the most on it … GDP is allocated to pensions. The increase in the coming years is noticeable as a result of demographic development and – Linking pensions to inflation. To one of the highest life expectancies in the world (84 years), we have to add a sharp decline in the active population: 30% in just three decades. It all boils down to the fact that the increase in spending due to population aging is four times higher than in EU countries in the next 20 years.
Looking the other way for too long means the solution is to cut future pensions. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development urges the restoration of the sustainability factor, and linking the retirement age to Average life expectancy The calculation period is extended so that lower contribution years are included. In short, higher social contributions and a lower initial pension for future pensioners. This is what it is.
Although time is against us, the political conditions do not exist to open these watermelons. The first thing is to remove it from the political debate as quickly as possible and return to the framework of the Toledo Charter. The second thing is to do the education. There is little explanation that Spanish retirees receive on average 80% of the income they earned when they worked, which is much more than Spanish pensioners. European retirees And much more than they contributed during their working lives. Everything involves moving from the current distribution model to a capitalization model in which what is received is more in line with what is contributed. And along the way strengthen systems Private pensions.
The alternatives are clear. The only thing we cannot allow is to continue as if nothing had happened. José Luis Escrivá’s reform, the last major reform, was massive Missed opportunity. Not only because it served to retrace part of the path that had hitherto been taken in the right direction, but because it was built on false assumptions that more or less confirmed the mistaken belief that pensions are an inalienable right. The OECD has shown us what we already knew: that this is not the case.