In the last few hours, the ultra-conservative Cabildo Abierto party aligned itself with the multicolored coalition and agreed to vote in favor of the pension reform, but the government cannot claim this victory yet: the Colorado Party has doubts and has asked for more time to clear them up.
Conrado Rodríguez, deputy of the PC, assured that the changes proposed by the Cabildo Abierto (CA) will impact the retirement system in economic terms, generating an expense of between 280 to 350 million dollars annually.
In statements to radio Montecarlothe deputy explained that although everyone would like it to take fewer years to calculate retirements, there are economic implications that cannot be ignored. Rodríguez added that if the proposal has an economic impactas the technicians affirm, its feasibility must be studied to guarantee the sustainability of the reform.
Disagreements in the multicolored coalition
One of the points of conflict is the number of years that must be taken to calculate retirements. The Executive Branch suggests considering the last 25 years of work, while CA proposes reducing them to 15. President Luis Lacalle suggests an intermediate figure of 20 years, which has the support of his and Guido Manini’s party.
However, the Colorados request time to study the issue in greater depth and carry out internal exchanges in their party. Rodríguez believes that the economic impact of the Cabildo Abierto proposals makes the reform meaningless, and recommends sticking with the current regimen.
Despite the fact that the president contacted former president Julio María Sanguinetti to inform him about the modifications that could be introduced to the project at the request of CA, the colorados acknowledged that They did not have all the necessary information. and that for the moment there is no agreement on these counterproposals.