Temer: Reform way to save Brazil's pension system from collapse

President Michel Temer said the proposal for the country's pension reform devised by the federal government will prevent Brazil from going the way other countries did, which, for not protecting themselves from excessive spending on pensions, were forced to carry out large-scale cuts, including the salaries of pensioners and active workers.

“We don't want Brazil to do what Portugal did, that is, to cut the salary of active workers and pensioners at the same time as they rose the minimum age to 66 and eliminated the Christmas bonus. We don't want to go that far. We cannot afford to do something modest now and be forced to act like Portugal, Spain, and Greece in four or five years. These countries had to cut much more significantly because they didn't prepare for the future,” he said.

The proposal represents “a way to save the country's pension system from collapse and save the benefits of pensioners today and those of the young people to retire tomorrow,” the president argued.

“We've set a safe direction for the public accounts with the cap on spending, rendering Brazil immune to fiscal populism,” Temer added during the launch ceremony of the project Senhor Orientador (“mister advisor,” in a literal translation), of the Brazilian Service for the Support of Micro and Small Businesses (SEBRAE).

“With all honesty, I have made a distinction between populist and popular measures. Populist measures are adopted irresponsibly. They have an immediate effect and are applauded ostensibly, but prove to be a total disaster shortly after. Popular measures aren't like that. They don't get immediate applause, but are acknowledged later on,” he stated.

A number of associations were mobilized and staged demonstrations against the labor and pension reforms throughout the day today (15).

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira