"Before flooding Andorra with unwanted immigration, I would perhaps seek more innovative formulas"

Víctor Pintos, a councillor from Ciutadans Compromesos (CC) and a member of Liberals, has called for limits on Andorra’s demographic growth and for selective immigration quotas based on the country’s actual needs, amid growing concerns from businesses over labour shortages and the lack of available work permits.

Pintos argues that Andorra “cannot grow indefinitely” and believes the country needs to find a balance between economic growth, business needs and immigration.

Pintos calls for immigration quotas to be kept to a minimum

“I am of the opinion that we cannot grow indefinitely,” Pintos said, arguing that Andorra must “find that point of balance” between economic growth and immigration quotas.

According to the councillor, immigration quotas should be designed to support businesses as they grow, but they should also be “selective” and kept “to a minimum”.

Pintos believes economic growth is positive for Andorra, but warned that it “cannot in any way be totally uncontrolled”.

He also questioned whether the country’s efforts towards tourism deseasonalisation have actually achieved the objectives originally intended.

The CC and Liberals representative expressed concern about the level of tourism during the summer months, describing what he sees as an increasingly mass-tourism model, with families, groups of friends and vehicles making it difficult to move around certain parts of the country.

He rejects using immigration to guarantee pension payments

Pintos’ comments come after Jordi Cinca argued that continued immigration is necessary to generate the income required to sustain Andorra’s pension system.

Pintos strongly questioned this approach and called for alternative solutions before significantly increasing the country’s population through immigration.

“Before flooding the country with unwanted immigration, I would perhaps look for more disruptive solutions,” he said.

The councillor acknowledged that Cinca has considerably more experience analysing the pension system, but argued that other options could be explored to guarantee its long-term sustainability without relying primarily on population growth and the contributions made by newly arrived workers.

Higher contributions, later retirement and private pensions

Pintos called for a far-reaching reform of the pension system, warning that Andorra may need to adopt “very disruptive” measures that could change the current model of healthcare and social security contributions.

Among the measures he considers necessary are higher social security contributions, changes to the conversion factor and a higher retirement age.

He also defended the role of private pension schemes as a complement to the existing Social Security system.

“It is clear that contributions have to increase, it is very clear that the conversion factor has to change, and it is very clear that the retirement age has to be extended,” Pintos said.

He added that private contributions will have to coexist with the traditional Social Security system.

Economic growth and Andorran identity

Pintos believes immigration policy and pension reform must be addressed together to find a balance between economic sustainability, Andorran identity and demographic growth.

The councillor called for a model that can balance the country’s economic growth with rising social security contributions, rather than relying primarily on the arrival of new workers to increase Social Security revenues.

His comments come as Andorra’s business sector continues to demand more workers, while the country debates how far immigration quotas should go and how to guarantee the long-term sustainability of its pension system.

The debate highlights a broader question facing Andorra: how to maintain economic growth without allowing demographic growth to become uncontrolled.