Lawyers and attorneys with retirement pensions of 300.00 euros: application for protection sent to the EU

TO THE ATTENTION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN SPAIN FOR ITS SUBMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND, IN PARTICULAR, TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL RIGHTS.

From Movimiento #J2 – #J2 Movement we want to denounce to this Representation, addressed to the European Commission, and especially to the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, the difficult situation that many lawyers and attorneys are going through in Spain.

Two of the main pillars in the construction of the European Union are the principle of equality and the protection of the elderly. It is no coincidence that Article 23 of the European Social Charter states that every elderly person has the right to social protection, and the European Pillar of Social Rights, in its principle or action no. 15, states that every person in old age has the right to resources that ensure a dignified life.

These basic rights are denied to many Spanish lawyers and solicitors caught in the trap of the Alternative Mutuals to the Public Social Security Regime (hereinafter «RETA»), placing us in a situation of inequality compared to the rest of Spaniards and European citizens. The reality is that our retirement pensions are lower than the non-contributory benefits received by the most destitute citizens, which means, in practice, that a very large number of fellow lawyers and solicitors cannot retire. We are told that we are going to have ridiculous retirement pensions of between 300 and 600 euros per month, after forty years of paying Social Security contributions to the system. Pensions that, moreover, are never updated with the CPI.

Social protection in case of illness is even more dramatic. We face a lack of basic coverage, as illness is only covered for one year, which is deducted from our total working life, and sick leave due to mental illness is only covered for two months during the same period. We have colleagues with cancer who only receive sick leave for one year and then must return to work in whatever state of health they are in, since they will not receive any amount if they do not do so.

There is another problem that makes us remain trapped in this disastrous system: the current regulations do not allow us to transfer our contribution funds to the RETA or the General Regime, and if we go into the public system, we start from zero, in terms of social contributions and time contributed, so most of us would not reach the minimum of 15 years of contributions required to be entitled to a retirement pension, as the years of contribution to the Mutual Insurance Fund (hereinafter referred as “Mutualidad’ or “Mutualidades”) are not taken into account. Finally, concerning the contributions actually made, 50% of them would be lost due to the payment of taxes.

The number of lawyers and solicitors affected by this situation exceeds 100,000, which is why we have organised ourselves under the Movimiento #J2 – #J2 Movement, which has been denouncing this situation for a year in many regional parliaments, 14 of which have already approved a Non-binding Legislative Proposal in support of our demands. Recently, the Congress of Deputies has also approved a Non-binding Legislative Proposal urging the Government to provide a solution.

We believe that a legal reform should be made so that, as is the case with the rest of our citizens, we can qualify for a public retirement pension. Contributions to the Mutualidad must be compatible with public retirement pensions, and this is as simple as allowing, through an appropriate legal reform, the creation of a scheme or gateway that allows the transfer of funds from individual contributions, which have been accumulated in the Mutualidades, to the RETA as contributions in said system, as well as the years contributed to it. This has already been done in the past by notaries and other professionals who worked with other Mutualidades.

Our complaints and mobilizations have reached the Ministry of Social Inclusion and Migration. However, the proposal announced by the Ministry consists of making the registration in the RETA mandatory for new professionals starting in 2027, thus eliminating the option of alternative coverage with other Mutualidades that certain groups currently have, such as lawyers and solicitors.

They have also proposed creating a gateway to the RETA, excluding from it all those who joined after 1996 and conditioning the retirement pension to the compliance with a vulnerability requirement, which we consider discriminatory and unacceptable.

In addition, they have proposed that for Mutual Institutions to adequately guarantee coverage, an increase in contributions must be agreed upon from 80% to 100% of the minimum base of the general scale of the Self-Employed Regime, and this without guaranteeing benefits, which represents a total lack of protection by the Spanish State, as well as a comparative disadvantage with the rest of its citizens.

The proposed solution is not FOR EVERYONE. The alternative mutual system has proven to be a failure, and those who do not yet have the problem today will eventually have it, as demonstrated by the fact that the Ministry has decided to terminate the system in the future, eliminating new registrations in the alternative mutual system from 2027 onwards. With the solution proposed by the Ministry, neither those who are already retired, nor those who will soon retire, nor those over 50 years of age, nor the youngest will find a solution. It is a simple patch for a few individuals, also in a vulnerable situation, since it is one of the requirements, which is why the Proposal was born, absolutely fruitless, even for those few.

The “Mutualidad de la Abogacía”, “Altermutua” and the “Mutualidad de los Procuradores” ARE NOT ALTERNATIVES, because they do not provide benefits equivalent to those of the public system for self-employed workers, nor do they cover the contingencies covered by that system.

The ministerial proposal called “PASARELA” (or gateway), contemplates the weighting of the contributions paid, not the number of years contributed. THIS GATEWAY IS NOW BORN AS A FAILURE, because under these parameters they will not be able to achieve the necessary contribution to obtain a decent retirement pension, forgetting that, until 2012, we have had to pay for our health and medicines, without receiving any subsidy or disability coverage, when we continue paying enough taxes, with which other workers are being covered through the annual transfers from the Spanish General State Budgets.

This gateway proposal means that the only beneficiaries of this system are the Mutualidades, to which we will be obliged to pay more, and in exchange, they will not guarantee us benefits similar to those provided by the RETA. The president of the Mutualidad himself has publicly stated that they do not guarantee any retirement pension.

It cannot be forgotten that the Spanish State and its public authorities are obliged, according to the Article 50 of the Spanish Constitution, to «guarantee, through adequate and periodically updated retirement pensions, the economic sufficiency of citizens in old age«. However, the Spanish State, which delegated its constitutional and European rights and obligations to these Mutualidades, has not guaranteed anything of the sort, because it has not regulated them correctly, nor has it supervised them, nor has it controlled them, but has looked the other way for decades. This has allowed the creation of a disastrous system that has condemned us to not being able to retire with dignity. There is no doubt that the Spanish State has had the powers and legitimacy to do so, since it is now taking measures to end this system, but in doing so, it is abandoning those of us who are currently trapped in it.

Poverty and misery cannot be the horizon of lawyers and attorneys in Spain. We cannot retire because our pensions are ridiculous. We demand respect from our senior colleagues because it is impossible for them to retire with dignity after 40 years of work, given the precarious retirement pensions offered by the Spanish legal institutions. The only way out for them is to keep working, dragging their robes through the Courts.

For this reason, in the coming months, the Movimiento #J2 – #J2 Movement will carry out a European campaign, informing, demanding and denouncing our situation, with the aim of obtaining the support of the European institutions, officials and politicians, as well as their protection, mediation and intervention.

We claim the Spanish and European right to a decent retirement pension after so many years of work and payment of social contributions, and the right to be able to rely on a decent public retirement pension when we reach our old age, like all other citizens and as guaranteed by the European regulations and the Spanish Constitution. With these pensions, we will be able to retire like the rest of Europeans and Spaniards, and for this purpose, we unite ourselves under this Movement, given the lack of support from our own representatives, who have shown a personal interest in the Mutualidades.

We agree that a gateway to the RETA («PASARELA AL RETA«) must be approved, because there is a very serious problem that must be solved urgently, but it must be designed recognizing our reality, the responsibilities and public powers that the Spanish Government has on the Mutualidades and their funds, as well as the real consequences that these Government proposals and regulations may have on the matter at hand.

This is the gateway that we demand from the Movimiento #J2 – #J2 Movement, a gateway that integrates us all into the Spanish Social Security system like the rest of our citizens, in which we pay contributions -with the transfer of our current contributions from the Mutualidades and with the new contributions of those who are still of contribution age-. Together, we will become part of the public protective system of the Spanish Social Security, which will provide a solution to everyone and solve this serious problem once and for all.

On 3 February, the Movimiento #J2 – #J2 Movement, brought together more than 10,000 lawyers and solicitors in a public demonstration in Madrid. On Saturday 13 April, we have called for a new demonstration that will start at nº 5 Serrano Street in Madrid, and march till the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security. We would like to inform you that this march will stop at 12.30 p.m. at nº 46 Paseo de la Castellana, actual headquarters of your Representation, where the attendees will be informed of the submission of this Statement and the beginning of our European campaign.

Therefore, we hereby inform and warn you of our dramatic situation and bring this problem and our fair demands to your attention, urging this Representation to transmit its contents to the European Commission, the competent institutions and officials and, in particular, to the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights. We would like to seek your full support, protection and active involvement, and we remain available to provide you with more information at a later meeting.

Yours faithfully,

MOVIMIENTO #J2 – #J2 MOVEMENT

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