Andorra la VellaThe Social Democratic Parliamentary Group has presented 21 amendments to the Budget Bill for the year 2025. The Social Democrats demand that the definitive indexation of pensions and all wages be done taking into account the CPI, with the aim of ‘avoid the loss of purchasing power.
The deputy president of the Parliamentary Group, Susanna Vela, and the general councilor Pere Baró highlighted today in a press conference that the Government is entrusted with the creation of a program for the purchase of a first home in order to facilitate access “to the property and to be able to release flats for rent, avoiding the drop that could be created in 2027 when the measure to block rents comes to an end”.
In this sense, the social democratic proposal is to subsidize 30% of the purchase of a home. Said subsidy would tax the property acquired so that in case of transmission it would have to be returned without interest to the Government and with the exception of return in case of inheritance. The remaining 70% would come from a bank loan negotiated by the Government with financial institutions for this type of operation (with a fixed rate during the first period of 2% and a variable rate with a differential established at Euríbor +0, 50% to be paid back between 20 and 30 years.
Also, the social democrats propose the creation of a fund for the promotion of tourism that serves to carry out actions for the deseasonalization of tourism, as well as a subsidy program for the training of the tourism sectors, “which must serve as a guarantee for the excellence of the services”. Also, one third of the Fund’s annual collection would go to a Green Fund to promote the energy transition and climate change.
The Parliamentary Group has also incorporated claims that it has previously made such that the payments received for widow’s pensions are not subject to the age of the surviving spouse – as is currently the case – but to the contribution of the deceased person and return to remember that eliminating this discrimination is one of the CEDAW recommendations set out in the “Final observations on Andorra’s fourth periodic report” study.
Likewise, the amendments presented also include the consideration that family benefits are a contributory right and not a measure of social assistance, taking into account the low birth rate and fertility in the country and public funding to unions so that they are strengthened and they can be a representative interlocutor and able to translate “into a social dialogue with guarantees in which the three parties participate from a plane of real and effective equality”.
Vela and Baró also explained that other amendments to the Bill for the 2025 budget are to modify Andorra Telecom’s budget in order to have a direct impact on lowering rates for families and small businesses; and that the situation of people retired by the Public Administration is assimilated to those who receive a retirement pension from a public security system, who continue to contribute to the CASS until they reach retirement age for the two branches. In this regard, the possibility is raised that the sum of the two contributions (self-employed and salaried worker) will cancel the reduction effect provided for in this article; among others