Azoreans will be able to retire at 64 years and three months, as opposed to the 66 years and seven months currently in force in Portugal, according to a preliminary draft law approved unanimously yesterday by the Council of the Regional Government meeting in Pico. The law still needs to be approved by the parliaments of the Azores and the Republic.
Drafted by the Regional Government’s vice-presidency, the proposal has been subject to legal work both in the vice-presidency and in the Regional Government’s presidency. It has also been subject to opinions from national experts seeking to identify and eliminate any problems of legality and constitutionality.
At the end of the Government Council meeting, Vice-President Artur Lima told DI that “Azoreans have an average life expectancy that is consistently and demonstrably below the national average.”
“If a homogeneous population group contributes the same number of years and on the same terms as the general population to a social security system, but it is already known from the outset that they will live fewer years – and therefore enjoy their right to an old age pension for fewer years than the rest of the population – it is the legislator’s obligation to adapt the actuarial formula for access to the old age pension, incorporating what is known to be the average life expectancy, at the age of 65, of that homogeneous population group,” he explained.
Also, according to Lima, “the constitutional mandate of equality in the right to social security in old age requires the legislator to adapt the social security system whenever it finds an objective and identifiable criterion that makes it possible to differentiate to re-establish lost equality.”
As such, the Government Council communiqué reads the proposal that is now going before parliament “makes it possible to realize the full extent of the constitutional right to social security in old age, adapting it to the proven demographic characteristics of the Azorean population, making the average life expectancy at the age of 65 relevant in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, thus also making the principle of Regional Autonomy a reality, in the light of the island reality and the costs it represents.”

RETIREMENT. The Regional Government just approved retirement in the Azores at 64.3. It now has to go through the Region’s parliamentarians and the national lawmakers in Lisbon.

in Diário Insular-José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.