The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has accused the Minister of Social Security José Luis Escrivá of lying about the effect of the limitation of spending on pensions. In a interview published this Sunday in La Razónthe leader of the opposition has assured that the socialist government must “stop lying and have to stop mortgaging the future of the Spaniards”.
During the interview, Feijóo assures that “the Government cannot increase current spending by more than three percent due to a pact it has with the EU to obtain European funds.” The journalist reminds him at that moment that Minister Escrivá has previously denied that this limitation affects pensions.
“There is an agreement, and the pacts with the EU cannot be broken. They have to stop lying and they have to stop mortgaging the future of the Spaniards”, answers the PP candidate.
In response, Minister Escrivá posted a message on his Twitter account stating that Feijóo could ignore that the Budgetary Stability and Financial Sustainability Law, approved by the PP in 2012, excludes the cost of pensions from the spending rule to which it refers.
“In an interview today in @larazon_es @NunezFeijoo accuses me of lying, do you ignore that art. 12 of the LOEPySF (2012 Government PP) excludes Social Security from the spending rule?”, says Escrivá. “Or worse, knowing it, do you want to misinform Spaniards and cause concern to our pensioners?” adds the minister.
In an interview today @the reason is @NunezFeijoo accuses me of lying 👇 Are you unaware that art. 12 of the LOEPySF (2012 Government PP) excludes Social Security from the spending rule? Or worse, knowing it, do you want to misinform the Spanish and generate concern among our pensioners? pic.twitter.com/u81gMnuNFK
– José Luis Escrivá (@joseluisescriva) September 4, 2022
Article 12 of the regulation states that “computable expense for the purposes set forth in the previous section shall be understood as non-financial uses defined in terms of the European System of National and Regional Accounts, excluding interest on debt, non-discretionary in unemployment benefits, the part of the expenditure financed with finalist funds from the European Union or other Public Administrations and the transfers to the Autonomous Communities and Local Corporations linked to the financing systems”.
Feijóo’s argument implies that it would not be possible to revalue pensions with the CPI and at the same time comply with the recommendations of the European Commission since, in the event that the increase in pensions jeopardizes that compliance, the Government could cut other games.
Escrivá has previously rejected criticizing or questioning the revaluation of pensions with the CPI at times of high inflation. “There is no more spurious debate”, he affirmed last June, when he also added that this debate is “an irresponsibility of creating uncertainty for ten million pensioners”.
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