Portuguese Bloco de Esquerda party challenges Social Security reform report

The Bloco de Esquerda (BE) party has criticized a new report regarding Social Security reform, titled ‘For a Sustainable, Adequate and Fair System – a Contract Between Generations’. The party accuses the government and the working group coordinating the study of using ‘creative accounting’ and ‘torturing numbers’ to suggest a deficit exists in the system.

BE deputy Fabian Figueiredo argued that the report aims to frighten the public about the system's sustainability to pave the way for privatization and the reduction of workers' rights. Specifically, the party claims the report attempts to manufacture a financial gap by combining data from the Caixa Geral de Aposentações with Social Security.

The party has called for urgent hearings in the Assembly of the Republic with the Minister of Labor, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, and the experts involved to address these allegations of misleading financial reporting.