"We must reject the line of alarmism,” António Costa told parliament in the fortnightly debate. “This government will not compromise and will continue … on the path it has defined: more and better employment; conditions to address the demographic deficit and the defence of [social security] sustainability with balanced management and diversification of [funding] sources."

His speech appeared to rule out scenarios such as increasing the official retirement age to 69 years, as recently proposed in a report released for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, in order to avoid an alleged collapse of the social security system.

However, Costa said, the government is not ignoring “demographic challenge or the economic and social challenges” faced by social security.

"To reinforce the sustainability of the social security system, we have diversified the funding sources of the FEFSS [Social Security Financial Stabilisation Fund], notably by consigning revenues from the IMI [property tax] surcharge to the fund since 2017 and with the consignment of IRC [corporate tax] revenues in a phased manner – 0.5 percentage points a year, until it stabilises in 2021 at 2.0 percentage points."

That means, according to the prime minister, that between now and 2021 the FEFSS will receive an extra €1 billion from these new sources.

On the system’s present situation, Costa argued that in 2018 "there was no need for any transfer from the state budget and, on the contrary, 1.5 billion euros were transferred from [the social security] surplus to the FEFSS."

Transfers to the fund since 2016 amount to 22% of all transfers in the last 30 years, he noted, saying that this reflects a firm commitment on the part of the government to enhancing the system’s sustainability. At the end of March, he said, the FEFSS had a record €18 billion euros, equivalent to 8.9% of Portugal’s gross domestic product.

In an effort to distance his Socialist government from its right-of-centre predecessor and the current opposition, the prime minister added: "Let us be clear, this reinforcement of the sustainability of public social security is not happening as a result of any measure to increase the retirement age, which some propose, nor of a cut of 600 million euros in pensions being paid, as some have proposed."