Progressive Seregnist Convocation is made up of: Platform, Río Negro Front, Magnolia, 2121, Red Carnations, Christian Left, Christian Democratic Party, Renewal Force and Humanist Movement. The leader of the sector is the former Minister of Economy, Danilo Astori.
Through the letter, Convocatoria Seregnista celebrates Lacalle Pou’s attitude of sharing with the Broad Front his ideas regarding the reform of the pension system.
“We understand it as a republican gesture. It is a highly relevant issue for the Uruguayan population and its effects will involve future generations”, indicates the Frente Amplio sector.
On the other hand, it reaffirms the need for a reform that “gives guarantees of both financial and social sustainability. A regime that does not have a financially sustainable trajectory is not a good regime, and a regime that does not consider social needs with equity is not a good regime either.”
Seregnista Call states that following the position of the president of the FA, Fernando Pereira, they will rigorously analyze the proposal. “A reform is necessary, but not just any reform.”
“If his proposals are the basis of it, it will have to be studied carefully. We also agree that the Broad Front expresses itself once it is embraced by the parties that make up the government. The parliamentary orbit is adequate for this, as you yourself have stated, which also allows the participation of social organizations involved in this issue”, is indicated in the letter addressed to Lacalle Pou.
On the other hand, the Frente Amplio sector assures that its position should refer to a “comprehensive reform that incorporates all dimensions, including the consideration of the system with all the boxes.”
“The different variables cannot be evaluated in isolation, but instead look at the institutional aspects (treatment of the various institutes), financial (retirement age, years of contribution, replacement rates, forms of financing), social (minimum liabilities , exceptions to the general regime, intra and intergenerational equity), among others”, considers the sector led by the former Minister of Economy, Danilo Astori.
Everything the FA has done
However, Seregnista Call questions Lacalle because “his gestures were overshadowed by his statements referring to the fact that nothing was done in the Broad Front governments in relation to social security.”
In this sense, in the letter they list some milestones: “In 2008 the reform of the Police Retirement and Pension Service, after a participatory process that included the police establishment. Efforts were being made to rationalize the system and reduce its deficit. We would have imagined that you and your party would have voted for it. However, they did not vote for it. Also in 2008, the reform of the Banking Fund, after a participatory process that included workers and financial institutions. “The aim was to rationalize the system and reduce its deficit. We would have imagined that you and your party would have voted for it. However, they did not vote for her.
Call Seregnista reminds Lacalle that also in 2008 “the Law that relaxed conditions of access to passivity, favoring tens of thousands of workers who lacked a few years of contribution to the system. This was necessary because in the past, evasion and informality abounded in the face of the passivity of the governments in power, including his party. “Informality in the 90s exceeded 40%. It is argued that this law is responsible for the increase in the deficit. We would have imagined that you and your party would not have voted for it. However, they did vote for her.
in 2017 the option of the regimen for the so-called “fifty-year-olds” was approved. The solution could have been more appropriate, but “the need to do it has its origin in the design problems of the 1996 reform, which ignored rights and contributions made by workers in that age group in the years prior to the reform and, therefore, it resulted in ruinous and unjust passivity.”
Also in that frame “maximum limits were set for AFAP commissions”. In 2019 “a reform was approved in the Military Retirement and Pension Service, which involved a tax on the highest liabilities, of the same tenor that had already been established in the Banking Fund. Efforts were made to rationalize the system and reduce its deficit”.
“We would have imagined that you and your party would have voted for it. However, they did not vote for her. And the tax was not approved because (along with a deputy from the Broad Front who today is in the ranks of your political community) neither you nor your party voted for it, ”the letter indicates.
Call Seregnista reminds Lacalle Pou that the Broad Front also promoted the formalization and rights for domestic and rural workers and artists, as steps that, although insufficient, were of clear justice for these groups.
“Mr. President, we will responsibly address the challenge of seeking the best possible reform of the social security system, which guarantees financial and social sustainability with a sense of equity and rights, because we owe it to our people. And we will be relentless in defending your interests. The path is an open and plural dialogue of all the parties and social organizations”, states Seregninista Call.
