The government delegate in Galicia, José Miñones, celebrated this morning in Castroverde (Lugo) the historic increase in pensions with which the government shields the purchasing power of the approximately 700,000 people who receive more than 770,000 pensions in Galicia, and which began to be applied this month. The delegate took stock of the impact of the 8.5% revaluation during a visit to the residence of elderly O Castro, managed by the Provincial Council of Lugo, where he was accompanied by the provincial president, José Tomé; the mayor, José María Arias; and the subdelegate in Lugo, Isabel Rodríguez.
José Miñones stressed that the current Budgets of the Government of Pedro Sánchez are “the most social in history” and valued that “they enter fully into the lives of families, in every house of every Galician and every Galician, to protect the purchasing power of our elders”. He also specified that the payroll of the pensions paid by the State in Galicia amounts to 11 billion euros (one billion more than last year), a figure equivalent to the entire budget of the Xunta.
The delegate congratulated the president of the Provincial Council of Lugo, José Tomé Roca, and highlighted the provincial government’s commitment to social policies, with a network of 9 residences managed by the provincial institution that are in small rural municipalities. He also assessed that for the first time the average pension in Galicia rises above 1,000 euros, while in the case of the average retirement it is 1,161 euros per month. “With the 8.5% upgrade, an average Galician pensioner will charge about 1,300 euros more per year. In practice, this increase entails an additional extra pay. It’s like collecting 15 payouts instead of 14,” he said.
José Miñones appreciated the social impact of the increase in pensions decided by the Government of Pedro Sánchez, in contrast to the freezing policy of the previous Executive. “Since the arrival of Pedro Sánchez to the Government in 2018, the revaluation of pensions in Galicia exceeds 25%. An average retiree in Galicia today charges 233 euros more every month”.
In that sense, the delegate concluded that “the reform of the pensions of the PP condemned the Galicians and Galicians who live from a pension to a brutal loss of purchasing power, with a miserable increase of 0.25%”. With such an increase, an average Galician retiree would this month have an increase of only 3.5 euros in his pay, while with the current government he is charging 90 euros more.
Regarding the province of Lugo, the delegate stressed that there are about 114,000 people who benefit from the increase in pensions. On average, each Portuguese retiree will receive 87 euros more per month this year than last year.
As a result, he said that Pedro Sánchez is the best president for Galicia because he increases rights, raises pensions and salaries for public workers, approves aid for families and increases the stock exchanges.
In addition, the increase in pensions is compatible with the sustainability of the system, since for the first time in 13 years the Government re-enters resources into the ark of pensions to guarantee future pensions. “An ark that was wiped out by the PP government, going from 65 billion in 2011 to 2 billion in 2018. Now it will have an income, after ten years, of about 2 billion,” said the delegate.
José Miñones added that in addition to the historic increase of 8.5% in contributory pensions, there is an increase in the Minimum Vital Income and non-contributory pensions, which increase by 15%, also protecting the most vulnerable. And he went forward: “We will continue to dignify pensions and the interprofessional minimum wage, regaining the dignity of jobs and protecting people, as we can see here in Castroverde today.”