Elma Saiz: the bounce to spokesperson after the good controversy over self-employed quotas | Economy | EUROtoday

Elma Saiz (Pamplona, ​​49 years outdated) assumes the Government spokesperson after two years on the head of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, accountable for the division that manages pensions. That is to say, it has in its arms the biggest merchandise of social spending within the State, round 12% of GDP, a proportion on the rise because of the retirement of the very populous technology of the child growth. To this process she now incorporates that of Government spokesperson, after Pilar Alegría leaves this accountability to steer the socialist cartel in Aragon.

Saiz’s two years on the head of his ministry have been fairly eventful, dotted with bulletins which have led to main crises for the Executive. One of essentially the most controversial episodes occurred in October of final yr. Then got here the hurricane of “flexible” dismissals, an idea that Saiz positioned in an informative breakfast and that sparked a barrage of criticism, particularly from the political and union left.

“In terms of pensions, there was previously a very abrupt regulation: either work or pension, and with the reform and through voluntariness we have made this transition more flexible. Well, the same with temporary disability,” mentioned Saiz. This reform, within the public debate because of the acceleration of sick go away as a result of non permanent incapacity, is at a stalemate because of the lack of consensus between the Government and the social brokers, with little signal of assist, moreover, among the many parliamentary teams. The ministry was fast to qualify this strategy, after receiving a variety of criticism, and indicated that versatile sick go away could be a gradual return to work as soon as discharged.

A number of months earlier, in May, Saiz had additionally confronted stark criticism from a particular group: scientists, who didn’t just like the Social Security proposal to purchase unpaid internship durations and convert them into paid internships in order that they add to the retirement calculation.

The ministry authorised an order that allowed anybody who has been a scholarship recipient with out pay to pay in alternate for the durations in that state of affairs to rely in the direction of retirement. Scientists protested this coverage as a result of very lengthy durations of unpaid internships are frequent for them, normally on the expense of public establishments, and so they thought of that the rule didn’t take their circumstances under consideration. Social Security launched modifications after these complaints from scientists overshadowed the unique announcement.

Crisis over self-employed quotas

The final disaster occurred a couple of weeks in the past, with the primary proposal from the Ministry of Social Security to lift the contributions of self-employed employees. Saiz’s first proposal was a major improve in charges, considerably larger within the lowest sections (the self-employed who earn the least) than in some intermediate ones. This led to a barrage of criticism from left and proper.

Just a couple of days later, Saiz corrected that strategy in an interview in EL PAÍS: though he defended its comfort to achieve the purpose of contributing primarily based on actual earnings in 2032, he slowed down the deployment of the system. In a gathering on October 20, the ministry proposed freezing the bottom charges and progressive will increase beneath inflation for the remaining. Since then the ministry has not known as a proper assembly once more, however there have been feedback from social brokers and parliamentary teams that appear to distance the potential for an settlement.

If this pact shouldn’t be achieved, or whether it is achieved however the textual content that is dropped at Parliament shouldn’t be authorised, Saiz herself has admitted that the Government will lengthen the present quotas in 2026, an inevitable state of affairs given the proximity to the top of the yr. Sources from each unions and employers point out that La Moncloa gave the order to deal with this problem, given the robust rejection that the rise in charges aroused among the many self-employed and the price it entailed for the Government.

The predominant group within the chamber, the PP, has raised the flag in opposition to the rise in quotas initially proposed by Saiz. It does so even though it supported the rule agreed upon in 2022, which established the start of the system that aspired to result in contributions for actual earnings in 2032. The common ones not solely reject the Government’s strategy, however have additionally taken benefit of the rise in decibels within the dialog about self-employed employees to make their very own proposals on this regard.

Pension settlement

The reverse of those setbacks was the principle settlement that her division has reached since she has been minister, the one main settlement of the Government to date on this legislature by which businessmen have participated. On September 18 of final yr, the President of the Government and the highest leaders of the CC OO, Unai Sordo and UGT unions, Pepe Álvarez, in addition to the CEOE employers’ associations, Antonio Garamendi and Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva, staged in La Moncloa the signing of an settlement that deepened the pension reform that started in 2021. Having employer in addition to union assist, this modification acquired the approval months later. favorable vote of the PP in Parliament.

This political success coexists with the employment knowledge that Spain harvests month after month, with round half one million new jobs created within the final yr. As head of Social Security, it is not uncommon for Saiz to present interviews and statements to the press after the month-to-month membership announcement.

Saiz took the reins of his ministry, changing José Luis Escrivá, now governor of the Bank of Spain. Graduate in Law and specialist in taxation, she was a Government delegate in Navarra throughout the mandate of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and accountable for Economy and Finance within the socialist Executive of María Chivite.

In June of final yr she was summoned by PP and UPN within the Senate fee that investigated the Koldo casegiven the alleged relationship of the plot with Navarra, the place Santos Cerdán additionally comes from. “The minister of Santos Cerdán, appointed by him. Pupil, subordinate and outstanding student of Cerdán just like Chivite,” mentioned UPN on X this Monday upon the announcement of Saiz’s appointment as Government spokesperson.

At the identical time, taking the reins of Social Security has been a problem for Saiz, largely as a result of his predecessor in workplace. Escrivá, regardless of being closely contested by economists who reminded him of his modifications of opinion concerning what he mentioned when he presided over Airef or the BBVA research staff, entered into the depths of the controversy on the sustainability of pensions. The financial background of the then minister helped him wage a deeper ideological battle than Saiz does now.

She additionally vindicates the system, regardless of the criticism that’s intensifying because of the rising strain on spending because of the retirement of the technology of the child growthhowever he measures his interventions on points associated to Social Security. He provides larger weight than his predecessor to the opposite two branches of his ministry, Inclusion and Migrations. In mild of those points, Saiz has centered a great a part of his speech on confronting Vox’s anti-immigration speech.