The Social Policies Area of the EUROsociAL+ Programme supports the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina in the consolidation of joint work with the Federal Council of Social Security and representatives of professional and provincial Funds (Cajas) to organise the social security system.
Foto: Marifer
On Tuesday, 9 November, a Workshop was held on the exchanges that have taken place between Argentina and France, within the framework of the cooperation of the European Union’s EUROsociAL+ Programme with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina.The exchanges are collected in the publication: “Overcoming the fragmentation of the pension systems: An exchange between Argentina and France.”
Participating in the meeting were Luca Pierantoni, head of Cooperation for the European Union Delegation in Argentina; Vincent Billerey, Counsellor for Social Affairs at the French Embassy in Argentina, Laurent Gallet, Deputy Director of the French Social Security Directorate, Paula Benavides, EUROsociAL+expert, as well as Virginia Tedeschi and Francesco María Chiodi, from the EUROsociAL+ Social Policies Area.
On behalf of Argentina, representatives of social security institutions intervened, in particular Mariano Martín Méndez, Chairman of COFEPRES; Gustavo Beveraggi, Secretary General of the Professional Funds Coordinator; Daniel Elías, permanent technical secretary of COFEPRES, and María Cecilia Barrios, first alternate general secretary of the Professional Funds Coordinator. Present on behalf of the MTEySS (National Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security) were Luis Bullit Goñi, Secretary of Social Security, Eduardo Lépore, National Director of Coordination of Social Security Regimes and Mercedes Bourquin, National Director of Social Security Policies.
The publication presented shows that both countries have a similar architecture, in particular the fragmentation of the pension system. However, the Argentine case differs in terms of the country’s federal composition, which also determines the coexistence of a multiplicity of provincial, municipal and professional pension regimes, all with autonomy. The resulting fragmentation makes it necessary to implement institutional channels for permanent dialogue between all entities and the regimes that comprise it.
In this sense, Bulit Goñi said that “we have been working intensively with the representative bodies of these provincial and local sectors, respecting the institutional structure that Argentina imposes on us, cooperating in such a way in order to improve the quality of the social security policy for each citizen, regardless of where they live and the work they carry out.”
For his part, Luca Pierantoni indicated “This is a fundamental challenge on which the financial and social sustainability of the country depends. It is a challenge that involves not only the government, but also all parliamentary forces. The European Union will continue to exchange and share the experiences of its member states, in a dialogue that is interesting and beneficial for both parties.”
Along these lines, the exchanges carried out between the civil servants of the French Social Security Directorate (DSS), the Retirement Guidance Council (COR) and the Argentine Social Security Secretariat have served to support an elaborate a set of norms and instruments aimed at institutionalising the existing dialogue between the Federal Council of Social Security (COFEPRES) and the Coordinator of Provident and Social Security Funds for Professionals of the Argentine Republic, organisations that bring together the Provincial and Municipal Social Security Entities, and for Professionals, respectively. Prominent in this regard is the implementation of the Registry of Social Security Entities and the creation of the Permanent Technical Committee, made up of the aforementioned organisations.
In closing, Francesco Chiodi, coordinator of Social Policies at EUROsociAL+ mentioned that “The demographic decline of the West will continue throughout this century. By 2070, for example, Europe will represent 4% of the world’s population. Here the capacity for endogenous population growth has been lost. But the question is not whether there are too many or too few of us in the Western world. What will make the difference is above all how we will be able to manage two relationships: between regions of the planet and between generations. For this second relationship, the reform of social security systems is a crucial matter, and it is very true that it needs to be approached from a long-term perspective.”
