Gonzalo Bernardos, on pensions: "We should delay the retirement age"

Pensions have returned to the debate. In the midst of the electoral pre-campaign, political parties have come out to defend their different proposals for the future of an issue that is key for Spanish society and for which there are all types of opinions. Among others, the economist Gonzalo Bernardos has defended the need to introduce changes to guarantee the sustainability of the public pension system, such as delaying the retirement age.

This is, he says, the only preferable alternative to reducing benefits or increasing contributions. "We should delay the retirement age, since life expectancy has increased and in most European countries it is also being done," Bernardo declared in a recent podcast.

Bernardos considers that the increase in years of life should be an issue to take into account when analyzing the time that workers remain active and the period during which they receive a pension, an issue that has increased in our country, where the birth rate is increasingly lower and society is increasingly older.

Therefore, in his analysis the economist proposes three possible alternatives so that public pensions can be sustained. The first of them would be to increase social contributions, but that could harm salaries. Another option would be to reduce the benefits granted to retirees, but the expert also rejects this idea. For this reason, it is leaning towards a third option: prolonging working life as a measure to reinforce the financing of the system.

Bernardos, furthermore, rejects the idea that pensions cannot be sustained and defends that the young generations will also be able to continue receiving a public pension in the future, although, yes, he distinguishes that one thing is that the system can exist and another thing is that the amount of benefits can be maintained. Furthermore, it defends its revaluation as a social protection tool.

On the other hand, remember that due to the large number of the population that is pensioners, this issue has a great political dimension and a lot of weight in electoral campaigns.