NRP Portugal

oth prevention and monitoring and repression, reverting this work of mutualcooperationinbenefitsfortheworkersasregardsthelegalisationofcontractswithallthe advantages associated with it in terms of social rights. Hence, using fixed‐termwork contracts and temporary work outside the conditions stipulated by law (illegaldomesticandforeignworkers)havebeenaffordedspecialattentionbytheinspectionservices,attentivetothefactthatthesetypesofcontractingareassociatedwithahighlevel of precariousness. Due to their extent, these actions have a strong power topreventfuturenon‐complianceonthepartoftheemployersthathavebeeninspected,aswellaspotentialinfringers,thusrepresentinganindisputablepreventivemeasure.Theresultsobtainedfromjointactionshavebeensatisfactoryinthefieldofimprovingworkingconditions,insofarastheyhaveenabledtheregularisationofthesituationofworkers in companies, the insertion of more workers in Social Security, the TaxDepartmentandconsequentlytheguaranteeoftherightsrelatedtowork.In2007,anoverall amount of € 4,421,622 was identified in favour of Social Security and €12,032,380 with regard to salaries due to 8,177 workers, a large part of which wasfromundeclaredwork.Intermsofnumbersrelatedtotheregularisationofworkers,47,900companiesweremonitoredbetween2005and2007andthelaboursituationof11,495workerswasregularised,ofwhich7,950hadcontractswithillegalfixed‐terms,1,840 had illegal temporary work contracts, 402 had false contracts and 1,303 wereundeclared.Thetotalamountofpenaltiesandfinesissuedwas€13,480,560.3.4. ModernisationofthesocialprotectionsystemTheEuropeanSpringCouncilsof2006and2008declared"theprimordialimportanceoffightingpovertyandsocialexclusionandthefosteringofactiveinclusion..."and,atthe same time, the Portuguese system of social protection, as is the case in themajority of developed countries, stands before strategic challenges that impose theneedtoreformandmoderniseinastructuralmannerthesystemsofsocialprotection,takingintoaccountsocial,economicandfinancialsustainabilitybasedontheprinciplesofinterandintragenerationalsolidarityfromtheperspectiveofsocialcohesion.In this context, with the consensus of the majority of social partners, governmentactionfocuseditsinterventiononthreefundamentalareas:- TheBasicLawonSocialSecurity(Lawno.4/2007of16January),whichintroduced,amongseveralchanges,thefollowing:thesustainabilityfactor,anewformulaforcalculating pensions; new mechanisms for updating pensions; strengtheningincentivesforactiveageing;theconvergenceofspecialsocialprotectionregimesand the strengthening of mechanisms for combating fraud and tax evasion,contributingtoanimprovementinthefinancialsituationofsocialsecuritysystemsand benefiting the long‐term sustainability of public finances. As regards theevolution of the disbursement of pensions and the long‐term sustainability ofpublic finances in the context of the EU, Portugal's position has recently beenreclassified from a high‐risk country to a medium‐risk country as a result of theexpectedimpactofsocialsecurityreforms.70