Finance Minister Mario Marcel urged the opposition to study the pension reform proposal very carefully before vetoing some of its scope, while criticizing the haste of some important voices from Chile Vamos, among them the helmsmen of the UDI and RN, Javier Macaya and Francisco Chahuán. respectively, for rushing to “draw red lines” in a sensitive matter for citizens.
“I think that we have rarely seen projects in which there is so much haste to draw red lines, being in this case a project that has the importance it has for citizens,” he said in an interview with Channel 13, an opportunity in which he called for calm to those who have expressed their concerns about the institutions proposed to manage the new pension system. “In the case of governance here we have two public entities: one is the Autonomous Public Administrator, which is the one that will manage this platform of services of the entire pension system; and the other is the Autonomous Public Pension Investor,” said Marcel, highlighting the “autonomous” nature of both entities, that is, independent of the Government of the day.
In a letter to El Mercurio, the helmsmen of the two opposition formations criticized the government for having “lost a unique opportunity to achieve great consensus, imposing rather than convincing.” In the letter, Chahuán and Macaya maintain that “the diagnosis regarding the need for a reform of the pension system is transversal and it would have been enough to strengthen the PGU, give freedom to affiliates between a public and a private entity for the retention and administration of funds, and seek consensus on the destination of the additional 6 percent. However, the desire to carry out ideologies that not only do not work, but are also rejected by the vast majority of Chileans has prevailed.”
“They will have councils that will make their most important decisions and will be appointed regardless of political power, in which the directors will not be able to be removed for political reasons,” he added, specifying that the Autonomous Public Pension Investor will have “a council of characteristics very similar to that of the board of the Central Bank, And as we know, this institutionality has given us guarantees for many years of autonomy and professionalism in decisions.”
“One would hope that the actors who are going to be part of the debate, of the legislative process of a project like this, give themselves enough time to study it, to evaluate it. Let’s remember that in the process there is an extensive period of hearings in which different actors attend and give their opinions, “said the head of Finance, who pointed out that any bill is perfectible with goodwill and openness.
“We do not enter the legislative discussion with a closed attitude. Of course we have to explain our project, but when we enter the process we will listen to all the good ideas, suggestions and proposals that arise, “said the economist, thus highlighting that this Government has shown this regarding the tax reform. “We have shown that we have that ability to listen and hopefully there will be the same capacity of all sectors and so we will be able to fulfill what I think people want, that there is a pension reform,” he said.
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