Lisbon, Aug. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - The Governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP) argued on Friday that we should «set ideology aside» and look at what other countries are doing with regard to mechanisms to supplement the state pension system.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Bragança, when asked about the conclusions of the study by the working group set up by the Government – which suggested the adoption of occupational pension schemes with automatic enrolment – Álvaro Santos Pereira said it was important for the country to step outside its «little box» and look at «what is happening elsewhere in the world and elsewhere in Europe too».

The governor recalled that in the 1990s, in Sweden and Denmark, «there was a major reform of the pension and social security system to enable people to receive better pensions when they stop working».

These countries «focused on strengthening people's savings mechanisms, so that people can then, regardless of their risk profile», supplement the stste pension system with something that can boost their savings, he added on the sidelines of the opening in the city of Bragança of a mobile in-person service provided by the Bank of Portugal (BdP).

Santos Pereira also highlighted that countries such as Germany are likewise considering following these examples and are debating a «reform of the social security system to allow precisely this complementarity in terms of pensions, in order to increase and bolster people's pensions when they retire».

«We are living longer and longer, which is great, but we also have to finance this increase in life expectancy,» he said, adding that «it is important, once and for all, to set ideology aside and see what other countries are doing, and to learn from international best practices».

The working group set up to study the sustainability of social security, whose report was presented on Monday, advocated the adoption of occupational pension schemes with automatic enrolment, which allow for opt-out.

According to the group's leader, Jorge Bravo, this measure would be important «to supplement the state pension, not to replace it», he argued during the presentation of the report in Lisbon.

At issue are «retirement savings schemes in which eligible workers are enrolled by default upon signing an employment contract; or, for existing schemes, enrolment is automatic, making them eligible for the scheme, whilst they always retain the option to exercise an opt-out clause should they not wish to participate».

MES/AYLS // AYLS

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