At the end of 2023, parliamentarians took stock of the progress made in the legislative field. This time, already living the first days of 2024, they raise the pending issues and the projects that, in their opinion, the Executive should support.
In this regard, the senator and head of the UDI bench, Gustavo Sanhueza, maintained that “the government has the main responsibility of exercising the legal initiative and giving urgency to the issues that afflict Chileans. Recent experience shows us that the government has been involved more than necessary in the Constituent processes, especially in the first one; that has delayed important reforms, such as the pension reform, in which it only presented indications after months of waiting. For these reasons, the 2024-2025 electoral agenda cannot be an impediment to advancing quickly on issues of security, economy, education and health, preferably,” he asserted.
His PPD counterpart, Loreto Carvajal, stated that “we have made little progress in perfecting the 30-day payment law, and we hope that the government agrees to accept suggestions aimed at ensuring that municipalities and health services that pay their providers “With more than 45 days on average, they have disincentives that allow them to modify their current behavior, and have effective mechanisms for large companies to meet these deadlines, especially with small companies,” he said.
He added that “our role is to advance in those matters that are social emergencies for citizens. A reform that improves the miserable pensions that the AFPs give today cannot continue to wait. We have been debating a pension reform for more than six years that would allow for a mixed system – in which individual savings are combined with inter- and intra-generational solidarity – and it is time for us to move forward with a reform that improves pensions, both the PGU and the pensions that the middle class receives, and it is to be hoped that in 2024 the right will not continue blocking the processing of this reform, in its desire to continue defending the AFPs.”
Carvajal insisted that “continuing to postpone the increase in pensions only weakens democratic life and the sectors that want to polarize our social life benefit.”
Yes or yes, pensions
Among the deputies, the representative of the UDI, Marta Bravo, expressed that “in addition to the security needs, we need to advance in terms of pensions, as well as resolve the situation facing the health system. And, of course, carry out actions to boost growth and employment; and in our region, address and provide solutions to issues of energy, drinking water, roads and agriculture, among others, to allow jobs to be generated,” she said.
The UDI legislator, Cristóbal Martínez, also stated that “nine security projects that were agreed upon with the current authorities are still pending, but due to the permanent opposition of some left-wing parties we were unable to move forward, such as, for example, the creation of a Victims’ Ombudsman’s Office in our country. Likewise, it is evident that we need to move forward with the pension reform, so we hope that the government can understand that the best way to increase pensions – current and future – is by increasing the PGU and allocating the additional contribution to the individual accounts of each worker,” he stressed.
For the deputy of the Social Christian Party, Sara Concha, there are many challenges to complete this year “in terms of security and education, above all, where we have experienced a great crisis. In that sense, we have to improve, for example, the law that implements local public education services (SLEP), but for that it is also important to seek agreements and political will, and we are not lost in that. On the other hand, one of the also great challenges of 2024 is to be able to advance in terms of transparency and probity, because we continue to have the biggest crisis in history in matters of tax fraud, and it cannot continue to happen,” she mentioned.
From RN, the deputy and head of the caucus, Frank Sauerbaum, maintained that many pending issues remain ahead, “such as, for example, the pension reform, which requires broad agreements and for the government to leave its ideological trenches. On the other hand, other promises must be made, mainly referring to the strengthening of Sernac or the modification of the environmental evaluation system, making permits more flexible to encourage investment. Also pending is a law that effectively allows us to overcome the Isapres crisis, and a regional income law that truly gives power to the regions. In security, what is pending in our opinion are the sanction for clandestine entry, the renewal of the anti-terrorist law and a new statute to sanction minors,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, the independent-DC deputy, Felipe Camaño, believes that the major pending issues for 2024 are the tax reform, the isapres reform and the pension reform.
“It is not possible that we have taken so long to approve reforms that could transform the lives of so many people, we have had two governments without pension reform, and that is serious, because we continue with miserable pensions, even more so when we realize that the proposal of The government’s pension reform is very similar to that of former President Piñera, and it is incomprehensible how political parties and sectors that supported that government, today refuse to approve an almost identical reform, in which the great difficulty is where the extra 6% goes. of contributions that we will ask of employers (not workers). Many voices have misinformed people, making them believe that solidarity is something bad and that the extra 6% that the employer (not the workers) will contribute should go to improve each person’s pension only, as if the fact that everyone Let’s contribute to people with fewer resources having better pensions, it would be unfair, when in reality it is not. That is why I continue to maintain that 3% for individual capitalization and 3% for solidarity is the best alternative,” he said, adding that a key project for our region is the electric transmission law.
