Lisbon, Aug. 15, 2024 (Lusa) - Two associations representing pensioners told Lusa on Thursday that the extraordinary pension supplement for lower pensions, announced by the prime minister, does not solve the problem of pensioners, and more structural solutions are needed.
‘It seems to us that it doesn't solve anything,’ said Isabel Gomes, president of the board of the National Confederation of Retired People, Pensioners and the Elderly (MURPI), emphasising that “it's just a band-aid”.
‘What we need, in fact, is an increase in pensions and what we put in place at the beginning of this year, of 7.5 % on the December figure, at a minimum of €70, is the fundamental thing, because €100, €150 or €200 now’ will not be ‘repeated the following month’, she said.
Maria do Rosário Gama, president of the board of the Association of Pensioners and Retired People (Apre), shares this opinion.
‘It's a one-off situation; it's not structural; in other words, it starts and ends in the same month, it's paid in October, and it won't be paid any more, and therefore, it doesn't solve the problem of people with very low pensions,’ she said.
He also pointed out that there are more than 1.5 million pensions below €500, emphasising that the poverty threshold is €591. ‘What worries us is the fact that there is no increase in pensions that could mean that there are no pensioners with pensions below €591,’ she said.
Isabel Gomes pointed out that ‘pensioners still need to eat, to buy their medicines’ and to do all the usual things, and ‘to which they are entitled because they have worked for a lifetime, they have paid into social security’.
On Wednesday, the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, announced that the government would approve an extraordinary supplement for the lowest pensions, which will vary between €100 and €200 and will be paid in October.
In a speech lasting almost 45 minutes at the Festa do Pontal, in Quarteira, Faro district, which marks the PSD's political ‘rentrée’, Luís Montenegro announced an ‘extraordinary supplement’ to be paid in October, which will be €200 for those with pensions of up to €509.26, €150 for pensions between €509.26 and €1018.52 and €100 for pensions between €1018.52 and €1527.78.
The president of the MURPI board recognised that, even so, ‘obviously people are happy’ with this measure, but stressed once again that it ‘doesn't bring anything new, because the next month they'll have the same problems again’.
The Confederation promises to continue developing initiatives to help pensioners improve their quality of life.
Thus, in addition to a ‘petition on homes that should go to Parliament in September, because it already has more than 8,000 signatures’, the organisation wants to ‘take advantage of this time’ to return to the first point of the ‘demands booklet, which is the problem of increasing pensions’.
According to its president, Apre attended a meeting with the Secretary of State for Social Security and is now waiting for a hearing with the Minister for Labour, Solidarity and Social Security.
‘In every situation, we have called for an increase in the lowest pensions, which is what we want to do, with the government, with the political parties,’ said Maria do Rosário Gama, noting that “a pension below 500 euros doesn't allow you to live with dignity, it doesn't even allow you, for example, to pay for an institution where [the person] can be hospitalised” if necessary.
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