Will the Government be able to prevent its pension and labor reforms from sinking due to lack of procedures? These are the accounts

The same fate could befall the labor reform, which must be approved in its first debate before the end of the legislature to move on to the next period alive. From there, I would have one more year to continue the discussion.

It doesn’t seem like a simple task. There are 26 business days to carry out two complex initiatives that have had more than a year of discussion.

The pension was brought to Congress in March 2023 with the aim of being approved in June of that year, but the process was prolonged. While the labor one, also filed in the first half of the previous year, already collapsed once due to lack of paperwork.

Another obstacle is added: they cannot be discussed jointly in their third (pension) and first (labor) debate, since both initiatives must go through Commission VII of the House of Representatives, led today by the liberal María Eugenia Lopera, who has accompanied the Government’s reforms.

Government sources confirmed to this newspaper that the priority is to carry out the pension reform first. A single day lost would mean the imminent shelving of the initiative. This was warned the previous week by President Gustavo Petro himself via X.

“They know perfectly well that a single day of postponement collapses the pension reform. They should be clearer. Are they using a corrupt person to overthrow the reforms?” wrote in the midst of the controversy over the complaints of Sneyder Pinilla, former deputy director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), who assured that with money that left the entity the presidents of the Senate and Chamber were paid to that would facilitate the approval of the Government’s reforms. Although they are facts that remain to be proven, they have caused noise in the Capitol.

(You may be interested in: UNGRD scandals are already being felt in Congress: will the Government be able to carry out its reforms?)

Already on Friday, the group of speakers who will be led by Martha Alfonso (Alianza Verde) and Alfredo Mondragón (Pacto Histérico) were announced. those who carried out the controversial health reform and have the full confidence of the House of Nariño to do the same with the pension, which has a better environment and was approved by not very solid majorities in the Senate. However, the Government has proven to have its stronghold in the House of Representatives, so the task would be less complex.

But time, Alfonso acknowledges in an interview with this newspaper, represents quite a challenge.

“We face a big risk due to time” and recognized that it will be necessary to extend the days of sessions in that legislative cell, taking advantage of the fact that on paper the Government has the majorities there to overcome the first debate without major difficulties, in order to give it space to work and face the plenary session as soon as possible.
“I hope that María Eugenia in fact intensifies the call for sessions of the Commission to be able to advance quickly in the discussion. There is no other way. “It is the option they left us,” she stated.

Already this week, several public hearings will be held, at the same time as the construction of the presentation begins for the week of May 20 or May 27, at the latest. If June arrives and the project has not come out, it runs serious risks of sinking.

In December 2023, the first 16 articles of the labor reform were approved. It was thought that once the legislative recess ended, in February, they would continue with the discussion but this did not happen.

Several voices from the Historical Pact insisted on leaving the reform alone to spend political capital on pensions and health. However, not even when the health crisis collapsed did it move in Commission VII.

(In context: The pension reform moves in the Chamber: a group of speakers is appointed in Commission VII)

The idea is that once the pension passes its third debate, give way to the labor debate so that in the first weeks of June it concludes its first debate and thus has life in the next legislature.

Times are tight, but if sessions are intensified and agreements are consolidated, such as the threshold for contributing to Colpensiones, the process could be less tortuous.

However, these discussions are framed by allegations of corruption that muddy Congress, which is why several sectors are calling for a legislative stoppage of the national government’s projects. There have already been signs of not wanting to discuss the Executive’s projects, such as when a proposal to that effect was approved in the House of Representatives last Wednesday.

But all The scenario could change if the Government insists on its proposal to bring a new health reform to Congress with a message of urgency.

If a new health reform is filed, Commission VII of the Chamber would have to discuss these three initiatives in less than a month, so the Government would have to decide between its reforms.
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​MATEO GARCÍA – POLITICAL EDITORIAL