Drastic Erosion of Income Security of Retired Employees in Portugal: The Cumulative Effect of Incremental Adjustments

Abstract

This article analyses the path of reforms of the Portuguese public pension system that started around 2000. It identifies a radical transformation of the objectives and instruments of pension policy, the organizing principles of the system and the conception of rights. Public provision of retirement income is gradually but drastically reduced, implying the progressive transfer of responsibility and risk to individuals. In order to explain how radical institutional change was achieved keeping society “anesthetised”, despite the apparent stability of policies, a reference is made to the political processes of reforms (strategies that avoid opposition and legitimation discourses) and to the use of automatic adjustment mechanisms (instruments that contribute to the de‑politicization of pension cuts because they reduce spending without requiring legislative changes).