ATA refuses to "do the electoral campaign" for Díaz and recalls that the rise of the SMI depends on the Government

MADRID, 26 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA) and vice president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Lorenzo Amor, assured this Friday that the employers are not going to "get into a controversy" because they will not do "the electoral campaign " to the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, after she asked the businessmen "commitment to their country" to address the rise in the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI).

"We, when they consult us, will give our opinion, but the SMI does not depend on business organizations. The SMI is raised by the Government and it seems that we are in a continuous electoral campaign. There are those who do not care how the economy is going and what is important is to scratch a handful of votes, with this we have to be very careful because we are playing a lot," Amor said in an interview on Radio Intereconomy, collected by Europa Press.

The commitment of the Executive is to equate the SMI to 60% of the average Spanish salary by 2023 and plans to meet the Commission of Experts that sets that figure on September 2. Article 27 of the Workers' Statute establishes that the Government must consult with the social agents regarding the increase in the SMI, although the final decision depends on the Executive.

The president of ATA has insisted that he is not going to "generate controversy with this issue" and has asked Díaz to be "responsible with his country, with his citizens, with his freelancers and with his companies."

Amor maintains that if the second vice president and Minister of Labor is concerned about "the impoverishment of citizens", it is "very easy" for her to solve it, with a shift in the personal income tax rate that will prevent, in her opinion, the loss of power purchasing. "If it's not enough, you can now lower the workers' social contributions and they don't lose purchasing power either," she added.

Amor has also criticized that the Government urges the private sector to adjust salaries to inflation, when the Executive does not make that comparison in public contracts either. "When you give that example, demand that example from others," he stressed.

The president of ATA has warned that the situation for the coming months "is not good" and it will be necessary to attend to the evolution of the economy and the inflationary scenario, without losing sight of "a disproportionate rise in second-round inflation".

Amor has also valued the validation of the decree for the establishment of a new contribution system for real income for the self-employed, which was processed on Thursday in Congress, with 260 votes in favor, 25 abstentions and 64 votes against, from Vox and Citizens .

For the president of ATA, the new system is "more balanced" than the current one and equals that of the rest of Europe. "You have to see how it works, that's why a contribution bracket is implemented for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The system will have to be analyzed in the three years to see what happens in the following ones," said Amor.

The new system will enter into force on January 1, 2023 and the Government, the social agents and the self-employed have given themselves a period of nine years, from that date, to fully implement the new contribution system for real income.

"Time is what will have to say if it is more good or less good, more bad or less bad. It is evident that this system is the one that is implemented in practically all of Europe, which is paid based on the income that a self-employed person has ", he commented.

Amor has defended that the new system is more equitable than the current one, and has questioned the statements of some deputies who yesterday argued that there is more freedom in the system still in force. "It makes me very funny when I hear that this system that we currently have has freedom. Well, freedom for some, because half of the self-employed are 47 years old and their contribution is capped," she said.

The Congress of Deputies validated on Thursday the decree of the new contribution system for real income for the self-employed, approved on July 26 in the Council of Ministers, after months of negotiation between the Government, the social agents and the main representatives of the self employed

The decree has had 260 votes in favor, 64 against and 25 abstentions, as reported by the president of Congress, Meritxell Batet, after the vote. The Royal Decree-Law will be processed as a bill by urgent procedure, with 348 votes in favor, one against and no abstentions.