Abstract

The author analyses legislative reforms and social agreements in the area of social security. The characters of the social security system and the constitutional limits to the ordinary legislator's interventions are here described. The case law of the Constitutional Court are also taken into consideration. The progressive fragmentation of the system towards social assistance, on one side, and social insurance, on the other, is then analysed. In this context, the consequences of both the agreements following the 1995 Pact of Toledo and the reforms on the quality of benefits are described. The author traces in the most recent evolution of the system a step backward in the route towards the elimination of need in society.