The reverse of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in the increase in self-employed contributions in 2026 puts part of the recovery funds at risk. The Social Security contribution of the self-employed according to their real income is one of the milestones for which Spain received the third payment of the funds, with 6,000 million euros in 2023. This measure was approved to be implemented gradually until 2032, but its virtual paralysis next year and, probably, in 2027, when elections are scheduled, complicates its final execution. To questions from elDiario.es about this milestone of the recovery plan, a spokesperson for the European Commission responds that “if a Member State reverses a milestone or objective that has been satisfactorily met, the Commission may withdraw the funds initially disbursed under the general framework of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism Regulation.” Failure to comply could cost Spain up to 1.4 billion euros.
The Government reached a reform agreement so that the self-employed would pay contributions for their profits, with a transition period of ten years, until 2032. The then minister José Luis Escrivá closed the agreement to increase contributions between 2023 and 2025. The current minister Elma Saiz made an initial proposal that she later reversed due to complaints from an association of self-employed workers, the employers’ association and the political guirigay set up by the PP, although the popular voted in 2022 in favor of this measure in Congress.
The European Commission can penalize a country for failing to meet the milestones for which it has received money from European funds. In fact, in 2023 Brussels already issued a warning to Spain focused on a possible non-compliance with the pension reform with the modification of the infringement system. With this change, we wanted to make it clear that failure to meet milestones was not going to be punished in the same way; the fine would depend on its relevance and its impact on major reforms.
Spain aspires to a volume of funds of 163,000 million euros, between grants and loans, for which it has to meet 595 milestones. Non-compliance is punished by dividing the amount of funds by the number of milestones, so that each milestone represents around 275 million, but the Commission adds coefficients depending on the importance of the milestone, which multiply the fine by 0.5 for intermediate milestones and by 5 for milestones and objectives related to the entry into force of a reform. The sustainability of the pension system is one of the main reforms and the contribution of the Social Security contributions of the self-employed according to their real income is essential for its compliance, so failure to reach this milestone could lead to a fine of up to 1,400 million.
Although in the reform agreed only three years ago all parties committed to completing the contribution for net income of the self-employed in 2032, the CEOE and the group of self-employed workers ATA (within the employers’ association) now affirm that “they have already complied” and that self-employed workers “already contribute for tax income”, in the words of Lorenzo Amor, president of ATA. In reality, they only do it for a part, but not for the whole, with a large gap compared to employees, especially the self-employed with higher earnings.
“The current political context makes it very difficult”
Sources from the Ministry of Social Security explain that “the measure will be complied with in 2032. In no case is there giving up on the contribution of self-employed workers based on real income. A more ambitious scenario would be desirable, but the current political context makes it very difficult. It must be remembered that the measure was approved with broad support in Congress and in no case will the commitment with the European Union be stopped.” However, social dialogue sources do not see it so clearly.
“This brake can affect European funds. There is a commitment to adapt contributions to their real income, but in 2026 we are not making progress. It is not updated even with inflation. The pending tasks are not being done. We are talking about a measure that is a very important leg of the pension reform, which is of great interest to Brussels. The overall balance of the pension reform is put at risk. Brussels can tell us something and that part of the funds,” explains a member of the social dialogue familiar with the negotiations of this reform.
“The situation is very complicated,” laments María José Landaburu, general secretary of UATAE, a group of self-employed workers linked to CCOO, who remembers that “next year is an election,” a context in which it is usually even more complex to build consensus on delicate issues like this one. Meanwhile, time passes and, if there is no progress in pricing based on real income, then the adaptation would be more abrupt in recent years to meet the 2032 goal, something that does not seem very politically feasible either.
The Ministry admits that “a nine-year horizon was decided for its implementation because 85% of the self-employed contributed the minimum and they had to be given a margin to adapt and the change was not so abrupt. In addition, time was needed for the new system to be implemented by Social Security and its success to be monitored, something that has been the case in the first three years in which it has been carried out.”
Eduardo Abad, president of UPTA, the group of self-employed workers linked to UGT, asks for “responsibility” from all parties. “Agreements for something are agreements,” he insists and remembers that one of his main objectives is to improve the social protection of the self-employed in the future.
It would not be the first time that Spain misses recovery funds. The European Commission suspended the disbursement of 626 million euros of these funds due to Spain’s treatment of the interims and just over 500 million for failing to comply with two reforms: the equalization of the tax between gasoline and diesel and the digitalization of local entities, in the payment of the fifth disbursement of recovery funds (22.9 billion). In the case of the equalization of fuel taxes, it was pressure from a partner in the legislature such as the PNV that made Pedro Sánchez’s Executive decide to park the reform. The more than 1,100 million can be recovered for the Spanish coffers if the Government meets these milestones.
Source: www.eldiario.es
