Thousands Demonstrate in Madrid to Defend Pensions

Thousands of protesters mobilized yesterday Saturday in central Madrid to defend public pensions, one month before the legislative elections, while the left accuses the right of wanting to open the door to a partial privatization of the system.

Under a radiant sun, the march traveled without incident nearly two kilometers between the Atocha station and Alcalá Street, passing in front of the Prado Museum and through the Plaza de Cibeles, an AFP journalist confirmed.

"Pensions guaranteed," "protect pensions," could be read on some banners raised by part of the 25,000 demonstrators, according to an estimate communicated by the Government Delegation in Madrid to AFP.

Juan Fernández, 38, a public administration employee in Seville, said he lives in "uncertainty" regarding his future retirement and said he opposes a reform of the system that opens the way to privatization, with "gains or losses."

"Public pensions are immovable," said Pilar, a 64-year-old early retiree who preferred not to give her surname and lamented that "the tendency is to privatize everything."

She also celebrated that "the housing issue has mobilized" in recent weeks, especially among young people, a segment that "has awakened," she said, before calling to "defend everything public," such as education and health care.

On Monday, right-wing opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo assured that the Popular Party would revalue pensions in accordance with the law if it wins the early legislative elections on November 29.

He was thus responding to accusations from the government of Socialist Pedro Sánchez, which reproaches the PP for wanting to reform the pension system by questioning the current mechanism of indexing benefits to inflation, in force since January 1, 2022.

At the end of 2021, the PP voted against that bill, considering that it entailed an excessive cost for public finances.

In Spain, the average retirement pension rose in September to 1,576 euros per month for nearly 6.8 million beneficiaries, according to the Ministry of Social Security.