Soledad Nunez arrives at Bank of Spain as the longest-serving deputy governor to take office in the entity’s history. 67 years oldand with years of contributions to have retired already, he lands in the entity with the obligation to retire if we stick to the general nature of the rule, but he will try to extend it until 73 years oldtwo less than what is allowed by the Bank of Spain’s own regulations. It is ironic that extend retirement an emblematic position of the PSOE under the mandate of a former minister who took the maximum retirement until 67 years old in 2027and whose executive prefers to increase contributions before the maximum working age.
Jose Luis EscriváGovernor of the Bank of Spain, carried out a reform of the pension system, but also anticipated some changes, being Minister of Social securitywhich the system needed to be sustainable.
Escrivá’s drift was evident. When he arrived in 2020 at the Ministry of Social securityand looking at different projections made by the AirReF The Independent Fiscal Responsibility Authority, which he chaired at the time, supported raising the retirement age. He even opened a debate within the Executive by suggesting that the ideal would be to “delay the retirement age”. up to 74 years old“A voluntary option, but which should become mandatory after a year. 2040.
The government jumped on him, Escrivá changed direction and, from there, the reform ended with the age being raised to 67, gradually until 2027. Soledad Núñez, the new vice-governor, already has them, and her Retirement should be mandatory in just a few months.
No one has ever assumed the position of deputy governor at his age and, although his 20 years of experience at the Bank of Spain They allow her to know the entity well, to lead the regulator at a time when the implementation of artificial intelligence and digitalization is necessary. “If she does not want to take on this role,” they say of the entity, “then only They gave us another political position“.
Debate with Hernandez de Cos
The debate on the retirement age between the Government to which he belonged Writing and the Bank of Spain made Pablo be, already in 2021 Hernandez de Costhen governor, who warned of the danger to public accounts caused by the increase in pensions promoted by Escriva. And as an independent director, without hiding her affiliation with the PSOE, she was already Soledad Nunez. It must be understood, from his own actions and opinions, that he shares the thesis of Hernández de Cos and the AirReF that it is appropriate to delay the retirement age.
In addition to the retirement age itself, Pablo Hernández de Cos came to speak in the Congress the need to reduce the “replacement rate”, i.e. the percentage of salary which is received as a pension after retirement, which implies a reduction in pensions in the future. The reason is the increase in expenses aging population and the inadequacy of the measures taken by the government of Pedro Sanchez.
“It would also be practical,” he added. From Cos“analyze alternative measures, including those affecting replacement rates, which are at levels higher than the average of the countries around us.”
All these measures which may no longer be proposed by the Bank of Spainsince both the governor and the vice-governor are purely political positions. Having technical profile and they know the institution, but they should return to it to truly become an independent counterweight to the Bank of Spain in the government.
Furthermore, as OKDIARIO has already announced, Escriva has no intention of leaving the Bank of Spain research service Keep publishing reports the same way and you will completely change the way you communicate them.
