ZUS will pay for Brazilian pensions

14 September 2026magnapolonia/zus-beda-doplacal-do-emerytur-Brazilian

Warsaw Government finished negotiations with Brazil on a social safety agreement. The agreement is intended to allow, inter alia, the aggregation of insurance periods and the transfer of benefits between both countries. The thought already raises opposition from right-wing politicians, as it will mean further burdens for the Polish taxpayer.

ZUS will pay for Brazilian pensions. The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, mastered by activists of the far left, confirmed that the negotiations were completed and Poland and Brazil are presently conducting interior procedures prior to the signing of the agreement. The government explains that the agreement is intended to facilitate the functioning of people who worked in both countries, as well as Polish entrepreneurs operating in Brazil.

However, the problem is that akin solutions have a serious financial burden. And that is what the critics of the government are asking about. The biggest controversy concerns the anticipation of utilizing a abroad internship in establishing the right to benefits in Poland. Krzysztof Bosak points out that in the case of a future agreement with Brazil, a individual with a sufficiently long insurance traineeship in Brazil may, under the conditions set out in the agreement, get the right to a Polish minimum pension after a very short period of payment of contributions in Poland. He gives even 1 contribution as an example.

There are already examples of akin mechanisms. According to the data cited by “Rzeczpospolita” it appears that payments to minimum pensions of foreigners increased from PLN 27.7 million in 2020 to PLN 123.5 million in 2025. The number of people covered by specified subsidies increased from around 4.2 1000 to 11.4 1000 at the time. This represents an increase in costs over 4 times in just 5 years.

Poland already has bilateral social safety agreements with Ukraine, Belarus, USA, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Israel, India and South Korea. ZUS explains that specified agreements are based, inter alia, on the rule of summing up insurance periods and maintaining rights to benefits.

The specified existence of specified agreements does not should be a problem. Controversy starts erstwhile the Polish strategy guarantees the minimum provision to a individual who worked outside Poland for the vast majority of his professional career, and the difference between the benefit earned and the Polish minimum pension is crucial and must be covered by the Polish budget.

The Warsaw Government should submit detailed calculations to the public before signing the contract: how many people can it relate to, how many benefits can be paid from Poland and how much possible payment from Polish taxpayers' money. However, specified data has inactive not been provided. The expert quoted by ‘Rzeczpospolita’ points out that without information on the number of possible beneficiaries, the scale of cross-border employment and the expected number of benefits, it is not possible to reliably measure whether the economical benefits of the contract exceed its costs.

According to the data of the Office for Foreigners in 2025, 1716 Brazilian citizens lived in Poland. The government argues that Brazil is Poland's largest trading partner in Latin America, and the agreement is intended to facilitate economical cooperation and the situation of posted workers. However, it is hard not to ask whether the economical interest truly requires the creation of possible pension liabilities for another group of foreigners.

After all, Poland has its own increasing problem with the financing of the pension system. After all, ZUS does not pay pensions to each of its private sub-accounts. The current contributions of employees mostly finance the current benefits of others. Therefore, if the State expands the ellipse of persons entitled to benefits financed from the Polish budget, it should besides indicate where the money for these commitments will come from.

Unfortunately, the left-wing politicians of COPIS first make fresh powers, and only later they reflect on their long-term funding. Today, the amount of PLN 123,5 million may seem tiny compared to the full state budget. But the problem is dynamics. If the number of foreigners benefiting from subsidies increases from respective 1000 to respective thousand, and then the strategy is extended to another countries, costs can systematically increase.

This does not mean that the agreement with Brazil will in itself bankrupt ZUS. This is not fair on the basis of the data presently available. On the another hand, real risks can be identified: any additional pension commitment by the State increases the force on the system, which will already in the future require crucial budget funding.

In this context, criticism from the Confederation deserves at least a serious debate. Krzysztof Bosak defined the planned agreement as another component of the retirement support programme. The Confederation demands a departure from the mechanism, in which a very short period of work in Poland may, under certain conditions relating to abroad traineeship, lead to the right to a Polish minimum benefit financed by the budget. This is simply a fundamental question about the justice of the system.

The Pole pays contributions, taxes and finances the functioning of the state for respective decades. Meanwhile, the state should not make a situation where a individual who has spent a crucial part of his professional career outside Poland can get a benefit higher than that which would consequence solely from his contributions paid in Poland – and the difference is covered by the Polish taxpayer.

OUR COMMENTS: The pension system, which, alternatively of limiting future commitments, opens up further channels for their creation, can become an even greater burden for future generations over the long term. So before Brazil is covered by further pension rights, the authorities should answer How much will it cost Polish taxpayers – today, in 10 years and in 30 years?

Unfortunately, no of the COPIS think about it. Warsaw is only curious in the possible of the upcoming elections and reaching the trough.