BRAZIL CONGRESS WEEK-Reform drive heads for climax
Reuters, Monday, February 09, 1998 at 10:42
By William Schomberg
BRASILIA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government's
deficit-cutting social security and civil service reform bills
were due to enter the home stretch in Congress this week,
nearly three years after they were sent to parliament.
The social security reform bill, approved amid a punch-up
in a lower house panel last week, was set for a first of two
full votes on the Chamber of Deputies floor Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, the Senate was scheduled to hold its
first full vote on the civil service reform bill.
The government wants to avoid delays. This week is the last
of an extraordinary session of Congress which is only due to
get back to business in March, after the Carnival holidays.
Both bills are expected to clear Congress finally in
mid-March when they face second votes in their respective
houses.
As constitutional amendments, they require two three-fifths
majorities each to clear their final legislative hurdles.
The civil service reform bill was approved in the Chamber
of Deputies in December last year. The social security bill has
already been through both houses but is back in the Chamber of
Deputies after being substantially rewritten in the Senate.
The government is widely considered to have enough votes in
the Senate for the civil service reform bill.
That reform will cap public sector pay and pensions and
allow hard-up states and municipalities to cut staff. Officials
have said the bill could save up to $9 billion a year.
Political analysts predict the government also has enough
support for the more controversial social security reform bill
in the volatile Chamber of Deputies.
Ricardo Pedreira of consultants Santa Fe Ideias said
violent scenes prior to a committee-level vote on the bill last
week, when left-wing lawmakers and trade unions members traded
punches with security guards, had strengthened the government's
hand.
"I spoke with several deputies who are in theory allied
with the government but often vote with the opposition and they
were appalled by what happened on Thursday," Pedreira said.
To make sure it has the 308 votes needed to approve the
bill, the government has said it will drop some unpopular items
of the reform, including a proposal to levy social security
contributions from pensioners.
However, the bill's central points -- the introduction of
minimum retirement ages and the linking of pensions to
contributions -- have not been affected by the changes, a
spokeswoman for the Social Security Ministry said.
The government hopes that approval of the reform will stem
a deficit in the social security system, set to pass $5 billion
this year, and bring it into equilibrium by 2000.
While less radical than originally proposed by the
government, the reforms are seen as the only chance Brazil has
of narrowing its public sector deficit currently running at
about five percent of gross domestic product.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso says the bills must be
approved before campaigning for October's general elections
gets underway in April or May.
Cardoso wants to show investors that Brazil is taking steps
to ward off the kind of financial trouble which hit Asia.
As well as the reforms, other important bills are on the
agenda this week in Congress.
In the Chamber of Deputies, a committee was due to vote
Wednesday on a bill which would make it easier to introduce tax
and political reforms during a special, one-year period in
1999.
The bill would reduce the margin of votes needed to approve
constitutional reforms in those areas to a simple majority,
down from the normal three-fifths majority required.
And in the Senate, a bill which would reform Brazil's
soccer industry was set for a final vote either Tuesday or
Wednesday.
The bill, drawn up by former soccer idol Pele who is now
sports minister, would require football clubs to become private
companies within two years, opening up opportunities for
investors and reducing the scope for corruption.
william.schomberg@reuters.com))
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service |
