Bolsonaro wants pension reform voted on in first half-year

Part of Michel Temer’s overhaul may be retained

Published on 05/12/2018 - 20:09 By Alex Rodrigues - Brasília

Brazil’s President-Elect Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday (Dec. 5) that he is confident that the country’s pension reform may be brought to vote in the first half-year of 2019. He said part of the proposal submitted by current President Michel Temer may be retained. The priority, he declared, is to set a minimum age for retirement.

“There’s no use in coming up with a good proposal if it never leaves the lower house or the Senate. This would be the worst-case scenario. Our biggest problem, our biggest concern at first, is the minimum age. We’re starting off with this idea, and introducing other proposals later on,” he said.

The future president further said that he would approve the new rules for the pension system on his first day in office if he could. “But we have to follow the schedule of deliberations. Of course, we plan to approve the pension reform, because, if we don’t, we’ll be in the same situation Greece was in not so long ago.”

Labor Laws

Bolsonaro stated that the tax reform being considered in Congress should be discussed with Paulo Guedes, future economy minister. He once again stressed the need for making labor laws more flexible.

“I want to change whatever’s possible in [labor legislation]. We have too many rights and too little employment. We need to come to a compromise and the overhaul recently approved has partly reassured employers,” he concluded.

Translation: Fabrício Ferreira -  Edition: Denise Griesinger / Renata Giraldi / Mariana Branco

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