NDuring an initial intervention in the discussion on the State Budget proposal for 2026 (OE2026), the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security stated that the government will “continue to strengthen control mechanisms to prevent erroneous Social Security payments and frauds” within the system. She emphasized that this measure, “along with the ‘Primeiro Pessoas’ program, should enable a significant saving for the public treasury over the coming years.”
“In 2026 alone, we estimate a saving of 40 million euros from the combination of these two measures,” specified Rosário Palma Ramalho.
On October 24, during the general discussion of the OE2026, the minister noted that the implementation of this program had already removed over two million people from face-to-face Social Security services.
According to the minister, the measures to be implemented under the ‘Primeiro Pessoas’ program, aimed at “significantly improving Social Security’s relationship with individuals and businesses,” include “the simplification of declaring wages to Social Security,” a measure that will begin in January of next year to reduce “business context costs.”
The ‘Primeiro Pessoas’ program aims to modernize and digitize Social Security services and allows, among other measures, payments to be made via virtual IBAN, MB Way, or through the app.
When questioned by the deputy and leader of the Liberal Initiative about measures encouraging savings accounts, the Minister of Labor indicated during the first round of questions that the “Ministry of Finance will study this issue next year” with the aim of “presenting a proposal for legislation that frames savings accounts potentially with tax benefits.”
“As it is not specifically in my area, I cannot say at this moment how the measure is modeled,” she emphasized, assuring, however, that [the government] is not “unaware” of the “very audible and recent communications” from the European Commission on this matter.
Moreover, the minister highlighted that the working group studying Social Security sustainability is also expected to “present proposals to extend the subscription of complementary regimes, capitalization regimes.”
[News updated at 11:43 AM]
