The Government of President Gabriel Boric suffered a very severe setback this Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies, when the possibility of discussing the tax reform was rejected, one of the projects considered key for the ruling party to promote emblematic reforms such as pensions . Among those who rejected and among those who did not show up to vote, despite being in the Chamber, was the independent Pamela Jiles, known for being a promoter of the sixth pension fund withdrawal.
In La Moneda they fear that, with this rejection of the tax reform, the support that a new withdrawal can receive will increase, especially if the public demands it –or so Jiles believes–, therefore, extra pressure would be put on an Executive that it has a complex schedule of lawsuits over the threat of a recession and the high cost of living. In fact, one year after the rejection of the fifth withdrawal, a group of parliamentarians is trying to relaunch the initiative that was successful in Parliament on three previous occasions.
It may interest you:
For this reason, the Executive branch and the ruling party are already moving to align their parliamentarians with a clear message: the draft sixth withdrawal of AFP funds is unfeasible and it has to be rejected anyway.
Since Democratic Socialism, the PPD Senator for the Valparaíso Region, Ricardo Lagos Weber, raised the need for the ruling party to avoid at all costs a possible new withdrawal of pension funds, because – in his opinion – the current situation in the country is “different” from what it was at the beginning of the pandemic. In this regard, the parliamentarian emphasized that a sixth withdrawal from the AFPs would be a “problem for the country’s economy” and that it would harm the future of many Chileans. “The Government has had only one line regarding this. The ruling party must order itself. The first decision is political,” Senator Lagos Weber pointed out to Radio Pattern, evidencing their low expectations regarding a bill that does not convince the majority of Approve Dignity or Democratic Socialism.
A few days ago, in fact, the very Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Carolina Tohá, defined this controversial project “as a ghost that must be expiated”. “If Chile has been able to contain a catastrophic crisis, it is, among other things, because it did not continue to give in to the temptations of withdrawals (…). If the withdrawals that were attempted last year had been made, we would not be In the situation we are in now, we would be with uncontrolled inflation, we probably would not have achieved the balance that we were reaching and that allows us to start showing a slightly positive figure that will gain strength over the course of the year,” he emphasized.
And the opposition?
The deputy Pamela Jiles, who has been the main promoter of this type of initiative, is the author of one of the sixth retirement projects, in addition to the independent deputy (former PPD) René Alinco, who has also operated to obtain the necessary support for that this standard be approved. For its part, the People’s Party (PDG) is the only group fully committed to this initiative, although the dispersal and resignation of militants in the store has affected them in this regard.
It is worth mentioning that, for its approval, the initiative requires the support of three fifths (3/5) in both chambers –93 deputies and deputies, and at least 30 senators and senators–. That is to say, the support of a particular political sector is not enough, so it is necessary to have a transversal force. With the dispersed ruling party, the support of the opposition is not guaranteed either. In fact, the new head of the bench of deputies and deputies of RN, Frank Sauerbaum –who will assume his new role in two weeks– assured The counter that will give the militants of his party freedom of action.
“We believe that 10% withdrawals should be evaluated one by one. National Renewal, in part, has voted in favor of them, but we are going to give freedom of action to each of our deputies and each one will reflect on the negative and positive effects that it may have”, Sauerbaum explained.
Finally, from the Government they were emphatic that a new withdrawal would imply going back on the advances that – in their opinion – they have achieved to face inflation. For the Spokesperson Minister, Camila Vallejo“it would be self-boycotting with the pension reform, which is one of the priorities of the Government program, because it is necessary to increase and improve pensions in our country (…). There has been a lesson. Since last year we have promoted a fiscal policy and a public policy, both to meet the pocket needs of Chilean families, working families, women who lost their jobs, both in the macroeconomy, to gradually reduce inflation,” he said.
