Pension reform in Brazil is half-sanctioned | Chronic

The plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil on Wednesday approved the legal framework of the pension reform promoted by the government of Jair Bolsonarobut you must always submit the text for further discussion, in particular, before sending it to the Senate.

The first of two votes needed to approve the text defining the general framework of the reform, reached in the Chamber of Deputies with the support of 379 parliamentarians, against the rejection of 131.

Thus, the necessary three-fifths (308 out of 513 votes) were exceeded, which requires a constitutional amendment such as the proposal, whose parliamentary procedure is complex and requires several votes.

The legal framework of the reform, which proposes to tighten access to pensions looking for a tax saving of the order of $ 265 billion over ten years, can still be done. subject to change, because MPs must now define the situation in which they will stay. specific sectors, the Brazilian and EFE agencies reported.

Among them, the ruling party insists that the reform reaches the municipal and regional areas, which were excluded from the version approved Wednesday, while they appeared in the initial draft.

Once these debates are exhausted, the deputies gathered in plenary badembly will submit the reworked project to a new vote and, if it again approves it by 308 votes at least, it will be able to send it to the Senate which will examine it during the second half of this year.

This second vote in the lower house is expected to take place before Saturday, with Parliament scheduled to open on 18 August. The parliamentary suspension will end on 1 August. The intention of the majority government base is to speed up the process.

During the debate, dozens of people gathered in front of Parliament to protest against the government's initiative. Minor clashes took place with the police.

In San Pablo, another demonstration was recorded, convened by trade unions, but no significant incident took place there.

The pension reform is the big gamble of the Bolsonaro government of trying to rebuild an economy that had lost 7 percentage points between 2015 and 2016, but that had recorded an insufficient growth of 1% per annum in 2017 and 2018 and who feared this year falling into recession