The president of Portugal’s state-owned bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paulo Macedo, has advocated for increased flexibility in rewarding public sector employees. He argues that public worker remuneration should be less directly linked to the salaries of politicians, suggesting a need to “decouple” the two. Macedo believes this change would allow for more performance-based incentives and a fairer system of compensation within the public administration. He did not specify how this decoupling should be implemented, but emphasized the importance of attracting and retaining qualified professionals in the public sector. The statement comes amid ongoing debate regarding public sector wages and budgetary constraints in Portugal. Macedo’s proposal aims to address concerns about salary disparities and improve the overall efficiency of the public workforce. This call for reform seeks to modernize compensation practices and potentially reduce political influence on public sector pay scales.