Against the Government, Parliament approves additional increase in pensions

This Thursday, Parliament approved an additional increase in pensions by 1.25 percentage points. The PS proposal was approved with votes in favor from PS, PCP, LIVRE, PAN, BE, Chega’s abstention and votes against from PSD, CDS and IL during the votes on the State Budget for 2025 (OE2025).

The PS proposal goes against the will of the Government, which accuses the socialists of irresponsibility and creating a problem for public accounts. This is an extraordinary increase in pensions of up to three social support indexes (IAS) which adds to the value of the regular January update contemplated by law.

The PS estimates that its proposal will have a budgetary impact of 265 million euros. However, the study requested by the PSD from the Technical Budget Support Unit (UTAO) points to an increase in pension expenditure of 273.8 million euros.

Also on Tuesday, the Minister of Finance reiterated in Parliament that the PS’s proposal for an additional increase in pensions “creates a problem from the point of view of public accounts”, not being the best way to ensure a greater increase in pensions.

“The PS proposal creates a problem from the point of view of public accounts because it creates structural and permanent expenses”, defended the minister in the Assembly of the Republic.

The proposals of the other left-wing parties regarding the increase in extraordinary pensions were all rejected, with PS and Chega abstaining, and CDS, PSD and IL voting against.

The Left Bloc defended an effective increase in the lowest pensions by a minimum of 50 euros. Alfredo Maia, from PCP, said that retirees do not need to wait for the government bonus.

The PCP provides for the update “for all pensions it corresponds to 5% of the pension value, and the update value cannot be less than €70.00 per pensioner”, the proposal reads.

Finally, Livre presented a proposal for a supplementary increase in pensions and “complementary to the annual update of pensions”, with an increase of 5.5% for the lowest ones, with a value lower than the Social Support Index and 2% for pensions between 1 and 2 times the IAS index.