The bill for a new pension moratorium You already have a voting date. The pro-government bloc of the Chamber of Deputies called a special session for February 28 and trust have enough votes to approve the payment plan for people of retirement age and, at the same time, break the parliamentary “blockade” with which Together for Change is playing.
The initiative to create a payment plan for people of retirement and pre-retirement age who do not meet 30 years of contributions is one of the issues that the president Alberto Fernandez included in the call for extraordinary sessions but that the Frente de Todos was unable to deal with the refusal of the main opposition space to facilitate the quorum while the impeachment trial to the Supreme Court progresses.
Since December and throughout January, the deputies of the Frente de Todos faced negotiations with minority blocs and they even made contact with some of their peers from Together for Change to try to get back into session, without success. In recent days, they have redoubled the pressure and efforts with the moratorium as a priority issue.
As iProfessional had anticipated, the goal was to push a session to the last day of the extraordinary session, which finally happened with the official call published this Thursday for February 28 at 10:30 a.m., with only two topics on the agenda: the pension moratorium and the project on Computerization and Digitization of Medical Records.
He debate will take place one day before Alberto Fernández attends Congress to open the regular session. According to parliamentary sources consulted by iProfesional, the Frente de Todos made the decision to officially launch the call because would have obtained the support of the Left and a part of the Federal Interbloc to have a quorum and pass the law.
Pension moratorium: will the ruling party have the votes?
With their 117 deputies (not counting the president of the Chamber, Cecilia Moreau), the Frente de Todos needs other spaces to reach 129 presences that are needed at the venue to open a session. In this sense, it is guaranteed the support of the 4 legislators from the Leftthe 4 from the United Provinces and the 2 deputies from the SER block and the MPN, who usually accompany them.
The ruling party hopes to have a quorum and the votes to approve the pension moratorium and Deputies would meet again
However, what would allow them to have a quorum and, furthermore, moving forward with the approval of the new pension moratorium is the accompaniment of a part of the Federal Interblock. As this medium learned, of the 8 legislators that make up that space, at least 4 informed the Frente de Todos of their willingness to go down to the compound.
The issue was the subject of negotiations between the head of the official bench, German Martinezand its peer from the Federal Interblock, Alejandro “Top” Rodriguez, who had signed the opinion for the moratorium project during the debate in the commissions. yours would be one of the votes that would allow the project to be approved.
The other contribution, according to the sources consulted, could come from Graciela Camanowho weeks ago had expressed his criticism of the paralysis of the Chamber of Deputies at a time when “there are major projects on the agenda of extraordinary”. In the ruling party they interpreted there a wink to advance with the social security moratorium. They would be added by the two socialist deputies of the interbloc.
The central axis of the negotiations was the draft moratorium. In the Frente de Todos they trusted that the social and economic sensitivity surrounding the initiative -which, according to them, would prevent some 800,000 elderly people from being left without retirement as of this year- could help unlock a session and overcome the resistance of Together for Change.
Beyond the political conflict over the trial against the Supreme Court, In the main opposition bench there is a majority of deputies who do not agree with the project, sources from that space indicated to iProfessional. However, if the Frente de Todos manages to have a quorum on February 28, the opposition alliance will go down to the compound. In the next few days they will decide if they vote divided or not the project.
What does the retirement project propose?
The initiative, which arose from the Senate at the request of Kirchnerism, establishes that the women turning 60 and the men turning 65 between 2022 and 2023 and do not have the 30 years of contributions required by law to retire may regularize missing periods up to the month of December 2008inclusive.
According to Anses, some 800,000 people of retirement age would be left out of the system without the law
This can be done with a payment in up to 120 installments what will they be deducted directly from retirement benefits obtained through the program. This is a system almost identical to the one applied for the moratoriums of 2004 and 2014, which was in force until the end of 2022.
On the other hand, it also considers the possibility that people of pre-retirement age (women from 50 to 59 years old and men from 55 to 64 years of age) who know that they will not arrive with the necessary contributions can anticipate and start paying the missing periods until March 31 of 2012.
These people will be able to pay contribution cancellation units, which are equivalent to one month of services and will have a fixed value of 29% of the minimum tax base of remuneration, coinciding with what active workers pay when their contributions are made in a timely manner.
The 2014 moratorium expired in July of last year and, given the obstacle encountered by the Kirchnerism project in Deputies, the President extended it until December 31. Given the delay in the treatment of the project, the director of the Anses, Fernanda Raverta, insisted for weeks that some 800,000 people would be left out of the pension system if the new law is not sanctioned.
