The section of the agreement between PSOE and PNV – for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and for the next legislature – which, without expressly mentioning it, covers the commitment to transfer the economic regime of Social Security to Euskadi within a maximum period of two years , could be extended to the other 9 communities whose autonomy statutes include that same competence; between them, Catalonia. In general, it is understood that within the management of the economic regime, issues such as collection of social contributions or the pension payment regulated by the State, without breaking the principle of a single Social Security fund.
Besides of Statute of Gernikathe statutes of Catalonia, Galicia, Aragon, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Andalusia, Extremadura, Navarraalso include as a regional competence – pending transfer – the management of the Social Security economic regime.
Euskadi, Catalonia, Galicia, Aragón, Valencia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Andalusia, Extremadura, Navarra are waiting to assume the transfer of the economic management of Social Security
This is not the case, however, of the territories of Madrid, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Asturias, Cantabria, and Murcia.
After the signing of the pact between PSOE and PNV, by Pedro Sánchez and Andoni Ortuzar, the acting Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, clarified that in the text of the agreement “nothing has been singled out regarding Social Security”, added that In no case will “the single box” be broken and recalled that the statutes of other 9 autonomies They include the same competence over the economic regime that Euskadi claims.
Traced redactions
“In matters of Social Security, the Generalitat will be responsible for: a) The legislative development and execution of the basic legislation of the State, with the exception of the rules that make up its economic regime and b) The management of the economic regime of Social Security” . This is established in article 54 of the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, with a wording traced to the letter of article 18 of the Statute of Gernika and article 54 of the Navarre.
And practically the same is the wording that appears in the other seven statutes that collect for their respective territories the autonomous competence for the management of the economic regime.
To the common wording, the statutes of some communities add tags to clarify that such transfer does not imply breaking the single box of Social Security, which guarantees that the contributions on account of all workers in the country must nourish a common fund with which to satisfy the contributory benefits of all State pensioners, wherever they live.
Thus the Statute of Catalonia, In its article 165, it establishes: “It is up to the Generalitat, in matters of Social Security, respecting the principles of economic-patrimonial unity and financial solidarity of Social Security, shared competence, which includes: a) The development and execution of state legislation, except for the rules that make up the economic regime. b) The management of the economic regime of Social Security.”
A wording almost identical to the Catalan one appears in the statutes of Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Extremadura.
The single box issue
To avoid reluctance, some statutes include the expression ‘single box’.
“In matters of Social Security, the executive powers determined in application of state legislation correspond to the Autonomous Community, including the management of its economic regime, with full respect for the principle of cash unity,” says article 63.3 of the Statute. of Andalusia. When referring to the autonomous competence of the management of the economic regime of Social Security, the statutes of Galicia and of Aragon.
The Basque Government itself understands the management of the Social Security economic regime “within its unitary character and respect for the principle of solidarity”, an expression that alludes to the validity of the single fund.
The Basque perimeter
“Without a doubt, managing funds, even within the distribution of powers in which the State holds the single fund, always involves advantages for the owner of the management“, stressed the honorary president of the Spanish Association of Health and Social Security, Antonio Ojeda Aviles, in an article published in April 2020, shortly after the Government of Pedro Sánchez agreed with the Basque Government on a calendar for the transfer of 32 pending powers, which now resumes the investiture agreement between PSOE and PNV. “Controlling and requiring contributions, and, above all, channeling benefits, means presenting an image of an intermediary that allows defending, resolving, accelerating and, to a certain extent, condition the universe of the treasury,” added the expert in International and European Labor Law, who is an honorary professor at the International University of Andalusia (UNIA), to unravel the reason for the regional interest in assuming these tasks. .
On the Basque regulations portal ‘legegunea’ – promoted by the Basque Government – it is explained that, “as an illustration”, the economic management of Social Security would involve functions such as “business registration and sanctioning power”; also the “affiliation, registrations and cancellations of workers and sanctioning power”, as well as “the management and control of the contribution and the recaudation of the contributions and other financing resources of the Social Security System”.
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“He postponement or fractionation of Social Security contributions”, “the ownership, management and administration of the goods and rights located in the Basque Country that are assets of Social Security” or “the organization of the media and the design and management of the processes necessary for the entry of fees and other financial resources of the Social Security System” also fall within the perimeter that, from the point of view of the Basque Government, would imply the autonomous competence of the management of the economic regime, as well as “payment ordering of Social Security obligations and the distribution of monetary availability to promptly satisfy said obligations”.
It remains to be seen whether, in the next negotiation, the central government will share the same perimeter as the Basque Government with respect to the functions that could be transferred to the autonomous communities.