The First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, has considered it feasible for the Government to approve in December the Royal Decree-Law on the updating of pensions in accordance with the CPI, even if the Executive is in caretaker functions after the election on November 29, and has expressed, at the same time, his confidence in being able to push through the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) before the elections.
In an interview granted to TVE, Carlos Cuerpo has launched a “message of tranquility” to the more than nine and a half million pensioners, by emphasizing that the annual revaluation is guaranteed by law and that its application depends on the evolution of the price index for the twelve months prior to November.
The minister has admitted that the calendar is not favorable, because the preliminary inflation data for November will be published on Friday, November 27, just two days before going to the polls, but he has insisted that the Executive's intention is to approve the norm in the first possible window, already in December, even if the Government is in caretaker functions.
“The dates are not playing in our favor,” Cuerpo acknowledged, while defending that the updating of pensions fits “perfectly” with the assumptions of urgent necessity and general interest that allow the approval of a Royal Decree-Law by a caretaker government.
“That update will be done. The Royal Decree-Law for the update can go the week after or two days after the elections, because even if it is in caretaker functions, that Royal Decree-Law can operate and can be approved by the Permanent Deputation (of Congress),” explained the Minister of Economy, who wanted to dissociate this decision from the electoral sphere and place it in the realm of security for pensioners.
The SMI, pending experts, but with the will to approve it before
Asked about the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI), Carlos Cuerpo indicated that the specific date will depend on the work of the committee of experts, although he considered it advisable to agree on and announce the increase before the elections on November 29 to “reduce uncertainty” among recipients of this income.
The minister also recalled that after the elections, the constitution of the Cortes and the formation of the new Government will still have to be completed, a process that will extend towards the end of the year or early 2027, which is why he defended that a prior agreement would give greater certainty to the affected workers.
In that context, Carlos Cuerpo stressed that the SMI has accumulated an increase of 66% in recent years, reaching around 60% of the average wage, in line with European recommendations, and has insisted that future revisions must preserve the purchasing power of this wage reference.
Criticism of the PP's diagnosis of the public system
During the interview, the head of Economy also lashed out at the words of the parliamentary spokesperson for the PP, Ester Muñoz, who maintained that the current public pension system “does not work and is going to explode.” For Carlos Cuerpo, that diagnosis is “alarmist and unfounded” and only seeks to generate unease among citizens.
“We are getting used to this type of alarmist messages that seek to generate a feeling of uncertainty in the population and that then the data insists on denying,” lamented the minister, who compared these criticisms with those that, in the past, were launched from the opposition about economic growth, labor reform, or the Iberian solution.
The Minister of Economy defended the sustainability of the public pension model with the measures incorporated in the 2021 reform, including bringing the effective retirement age closer to 65 years and increasing income through contributions to Social Security, a design aimed at absorbing the peak retirement of the baby boom generation by 2050.
Finally, Carlos Cuerpo criticized the “lack of transparency” and the “void of solutions” of the PP, suggesting that behind this controversy over pensions lies a different model from the public system that, he defended, the Government supports.