Pension reform must include a second step for military personnel

President Jair Bolsonaro and his deputy, Hamilton Mourão, said Wednesday that the rules applicable to the military could be modified only in a second time after the approval of the proposal to amend the constitution (PEC). which should modify the retirement criteria of the INSS and civil servants.

The strategy to be defended by the economic team, however, is that the bill of the army be transmitted at the beginning of the legislative year, with the new text of the reform, in order to reinforce the thesis that everyone will have to contribute to the balance of social security and the country's accounts.

This indication is considered crucial by the technicians working on the proposal, as former President Michel Temer was strongly criticized for excluding the armed forces from the changes. The badessment is that Bolsonaro and Mourão, because they are graduates of the Armed Forces, will face even greater pressure if the military moves to a second stage. This decision could even weaken the congressional government's articulations and communication strategy to convince society of the need for reform.

The retirement rules of the armed forces are nowadays provided for by ordinary law and do not require any modification of the Constitution. This is why the subject should be excluded from the agglutinative amendment that will be presented in plenary, taking advantage of the PEC already underway, to change the retirement and retirement criteria in the country.

The sources admit, however, that the last word will be the President of the Republic. In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos, Switzerland, Bolsonaro said that changes in the military rules could occur "in the second part of the reform". Mourão, on the contrary, explained even more clearly that the idea was to leave the category after the CEP vote on pension reform. He denied that this division is a negative signage. "No, because we already know that the army is a bill and the rest is a constitutional amendment," he said.

Objectives

Following the cancellation of the press conference that the Brazilian delegation, including Bolsonaro, would give Davos, the chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, called the press to present the objectives the first 100 days of government. . In the list of 35 stocks, there was no mention of pension reform, referred to as "zero priority" on other occasions. Among the objectives badigned to the Ministry of the Economy and related to the issue of social security, only the provisional measure (MP) of the fight against benefits fraud, published last week, was included.

Onyx refused to comment on the details of the proposal, which he said would be closed "in the coming weeks". "If I come to the details of the proposal, I would evoke here any strategy, tactics and logic."

He recalled that the president would undergo an operation next Monday and said that Bolsonaro should return to Brasilia on February 7, after the recovery.

The chief of staff even criticized Bolsonaro for not talking about pension reform in Davos. This measure is one of the most eagerly awaited by investors – many of whom accompany the World Economic Forum in the field – as it is considered essential for balancing public finances in Brazil.

"Of course, the president has not talked about how this is going to be and we will continue on that path, we are bringing to the market all that is relevant, and I have no doubt small dollar fluctuations or stock market) occur daily, with or without positive news from the government. "