Pensioners manifest in Madrid in defense of public pensions

Dezenas of organizations from all over Spain called a demonstration for today in Madrid “in defense of public pensions”, one of the themes that have been in the pre-campaign debates for the Spanish legislative elections of 29 November.

The demonstration of pensions is joined by other protests, by housing and teachers, who have been on the streets of Madrid on a daily basis in recent weeks and who have also marked the pre-campaign of legislative.

According to the State Coordinator for the Defense of the Public Pension System (COESPE), which called today’s demonstration, the protest received “an avalanche of accessions” from social, trade union, political, cultural and international organizations.

The platform’s prediction, according to a statement, is that the protest is one of the great “social mobilizations of recent years in defense of social rights”, not only of “public pensions”, but also of “household and social justice”.

“Today’s fight for pensions and public rights is the guarantee of tomorrow’s rights,” COESP said.

Pensions entered the political debate of the November 29 elections because of statements by leaders of the People's Party (PP, right) and the Vox (extreme right) on the viability and sustainability of the Spanish system, suggesting changes.

“The system as it is now going to collapse,” said MP leader Ester Muñoz in an interview last week that launched this debate.

Muñoz added that it is necessary to “courage when making decisions” and anticipated that “the model needs to be changed”.

PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has ensured in recent days that pensions will continue to be updated as inflation if the party reaches the government and promised “a viable pension system for young people”.

Vox leaders, in turn, have spoken about the possibility of a public/private system.

Left-wing parties are taking advantage of these statements to denounce the possibility of cuts, freezes or privatization of pensions.

In this context, COESP called for participation in today’s demonstration in the centre of Madrid and for “a massive demonstration of support for public pensions, public services, social rights and solidarity between generations”.

“Govern who rules, public rights and pensions defend themselves,” said the platform, which considers there to be “continuous and intolerable attempts at total or partial privatisation” of the current system.

“ Public pensions are neither a cost nor a burden, they are deferred wages and a fundamental pillar of social cohesion that the State has a constitutional obligation to guarantee”, stressed the platform.

Among the demands of today's protest call is the rise of minimum pensions to the minimum wage value in Spain (EUR 1,221 per month) and to maintain the current update according to the inflation of all pensions.