The announcement of the Government’s social aid package to address the uncertain scenario of the pandemic not only raised doubts about its real scope, but also activated an unreleased strategic alliance on the right at the level of presidential candidates.
This day, the standard-bearers Mario Desbordes (RN) and Joaquín Lavín (UDI) met to announce the development of a joint proposal to improve the plan offered in national chain by President Sebastián Piñera, with a view to making it more “universal”, one of the main fallacy of government design.
Lavín arrived at RN headquarters to meet with Mario Desbordes, and then offer a joint press conference where the tone was to assess the package of measures that the Government put on the table – consisting of US$6 billion – but at the same time to notify that the Executive’s proposal does not reach and requires improvement, especially in the face of the imminent processing of several bills relating to the third 10% withdrawal in the Chamber of Deputies.
In this context, Lavín assured that the measures announced by the Government “are positive, it is fed up with silver”, but he was angry at noting that “this must be complemented by a more universal measure”, and a “more massive, more even” economic gesture.
“Perhaps the government’s announcement, because the tax resources are finite, does not have the universality that one wanted and that is why we have discussed with Joaquín (Lavín) the possibility of supplementing proposals,” the former defence minister said in his turn.
Both candidates reported that they will put their teams to work to formulate a joint proposal, merging the approaches they have made separately to date, so that they can present it to the Executive and can be processed in Congress. To do this, they set a period of 48 hours.
Among the ideas that both standard-bearers have thrown into the ring are the “big bond” without so much paper or requirement” raised by Desbordes, or the withdrawal of funds from the Cesantía Fund Administrator raised by the mayor of Las Condes.
“I had proposed withdrawal from the AFC which means at least 400,000 pesos guaranteed for 10 million Chileans and that’s much bigger than this that was announced yesterday,” Lavín said.
In the government proposal, Desbordes also proposes improvements, such as flexible requirements, and “change a couple of words, for example when it says that the person claims to credit a 20% decrease in their income, include the SME, the partner, to reach the desperate small business, such as trade in gastronomy, with that bonus.”
The RN candidate bet that the Executive should “welcome the citizen clamor” and echo these “responsible proposals and ideas”. “And really these proposals are better than the third withdrawn, because there are already three million people who do not have funds,” he said.
