The two sectors pass the buck without making progress in the negotiations days before a new key date for voting.
Open Town Hall (CA) uncertainty remains for the government as the date – postponed from its original plan – approaches to revisit the social security reform in Uruguay, in the Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputiesand does not offer an answer to the intermediate formula offered by the president Luis Lacalle Pou; however, from the sector led by Guido Manini Rios, They maintain that it is the president who has the ball in his court.
He monday at 10 there will be a second opportunity to vote in committee on the reform of the pension system that, unexpectedly, has caused so many headaches in the government. With a coalition on the brink of rupture due to the insistence of the lobbyists to impose the desired modifications —mainly, regarding the authorization of the Pension Savings Fund Administrators (AFAP) to invest abroad and the calculation of basic retirement salary— the next few hours will be, once again, decisive.
However, in the midst of rumors about a possible agreement to contemplate a period of 23 years for the calculation of the retirement salary and without knowing with certainty what CA’s response was to the intermediate formula proposed by President Lacalle Pou to the points of contention with coalition partners, It is not known who has to take the next step in a more than locked negotiation. According to the government, it is the lobbyists who must respond and give no indication of what they will do, after being confirmed that the main proposals cannot be carried out; for those of Manini Ríos, the head of state is the one who must move the next chip.
The “miracle” of Easter It can happen but, so far, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be possible. With a public attitude of fed up with the “haggling” of his peers, the senator and lobbyist leader shared through social networks an opinion column from the weekly La Mañana, related to his party, in which he criticizes the social security reform and supports CA’s position. This, as a summary of what, at this moment, Manini Ríos maintains publicly.
out of commitment
The key point of criticism puts the document on the table “Commitment to the country”which was signed by all the leaders of the coalition before the 2019 run-off. It maintains that the then aspiring government would advance in “initiating a process that leads to a social security reform with a solid technical base and broad political support, in order to to achieve a modern, financially sustainable pension system that is less dependent on political times, which takes special care of liabilities with higher levels of vulnerability”.
According to the column shared by Manini Ríos, nowhere did the signatory parties commit to approving any project carried out by Rodolfo Saldaín —main editor of the text of the pension reform that the government wants to approve— or specific issues related to the AFAPs; but the promise was “protect the weakest”as the chapter that frames the pillar project of Lacalle Pou’s reformist agenda is called.
As a hint, he points out that the document speaks of a process with a solid technical base, broad political support and focused on the most vulnerable. Something that, according to the lobbyists and the weekly in question does not agree with the project that “hurries up” the Executive Power.
Therefore, Cabildo Abierto defends its position of not being in breach of the Commitment, as accused by some legislators of the coalition, mainly from the National Party; but playing with what, at least, they understand as the rules of the game.
Source: Ambito
