THE NEXT On July 20, with the beginning of the second legislature, presidents will be elected in the Senate and Chamber, which in the latter corresponds to the Liberal Party according to the political agreements. At least four politicians are bidding to be nominated for this dignity. EL NUEVO SIGLO asked Carlos Ardila and Julián Peinado, who launched weeks ago, their opinion on the major reforms that are being processed, as well as Álvaro Monedero, who said that they have proposed that he aspire, but he has not yet decided to campaign.
Carlos Ardila mentioned that: “We have applied for our name on the bench of the Chamber, there is experience in the board of directors, the fourth year of Congress that passed we had the opportunity to be vice president, and that experience will allow the Liberal Party to play a leading role in the process of reforms and in the exercise of political control”.
He stressed that the next president of the Chamber “must give guarantees, the key word is ‘guarantees’, so that the Government can advance its reforms and the opposition develop its exercise, the same as the independent parties.”
For his part, Julián Peinado said that: “Congress, especially the Chamber, is a system of checks and balances against the Government’s proposals and against the interests of each of the regions.”
He pointed out that: “Here is a balanced proposal, which is not intended to be an obstacle for the Government, a proposal that wants to give guarantees to the opposition, and a proposal that gives guarantees to the Liberal Party.”
While, for his part, Álvaro Monedero shared that: “They have told me to aspire, but at the moment I am not in the campaign, we made a commitment at the beginning of the period to accompany Andrés Calle.”
Government reforms
Both the next president of the Senate and that of the Chamber will be key to the processing of the major reforms that the Government presented: pension, labor and health, which will move to the next legislature, as well as the rest of the initiatives of the Casa de Nariño and of parliamentary origin.
Ardila said that: “There are several commissions that have tasks related to reforms. The Seventh Committee of the House is in charge of the labor reform, the Senate is advancing in the discussion of the pension reform and the House of Representatives is in charge of the health reform. What we have asked the government is to listen to the requests of the different parties”.
He stated that the Liberal Party filed a paper on health reform, has a proposal in terms of labor and “we hope that they will be heard in order to move forward in this discussion. If the listening exercise is not carried out and it does not become an agreement that is reflected in a text, it is difficult for us to advance in the reforms”.
In turn, Peinado articulated that: “These are reforms that generate greater concern for the Colombian business community. In principle, the labor reform, when the world is moving towards flexible systems, what this reform does is absolutely regressive and, on the contrary, screws down some jobs, especially those that are unionized, and makes the labor contract more expensive, a situation that is not It affects large companies, but rather small and medium-sized ones that will not be able to bear this workload”.
He added that the health reform “has not been able to respect the agreements that had been established with the Liberal Party in the different work groups, and it is practically a system of nationalization.” In the pension reform he said that “we find that today a large part of the investment in Colombia depends on where these (private) funds invest, that would generate instability in the financial market.”
While Monedero warned that there is uncertainty about the health reform, “one does not see a majority block in all the parties with the exception of the Historical Pact. We must wait for the process and the modifications that the Government accepts”.
He pointed out that the labor reform is “raw”, for this reason he considers that “it should stay for the next semester”, although he does not overlook saying that “it has serious implications, especially in formal employment”.
While regarding the pension, he recalled that “we have a fiscal gap and with the new determination of the Court all the more reason because by reducing the weeks of women, that affects the entry into the system. This is a solidarity system that is based on the pillar that many people are working so that a few are pensioners.