After a debate that lasted nearly eight hours, the parliamentarians approved the project by a large majority.
Following an extensive vote on 104 amendments to the bill that were incorporated by the Senate, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved the pension reform on Wednesday.
Following the debate by parliamentarians, which lasted for nearly eight hours, the Lower House approved the reform as law.
After learning of the historic approval of the reform, Deputy Luis Cuello (PC) said that from now on “we can begin to talk about social security. Starting today we have a substantial and important increase in the pensions of current and future retirees.”
"This is a victory for the workers and a victory for the retirees who have never given up and have never given up on achieving and maintaining these pensions," he added.
From the Frente Amplio, legislator Diego Ibáñez commented that “we greatly value the effort made by the Government, Minister Jara, Minister Marcel, and also by all the officials who were behind this proposal.”
“Thanks to all the social organizations and workers who have been arguing for more than ten years that the AFP system was failing. This is a victory for the people of Chile,” he added.
The parliamentarian of the PPD-IND bench, Raúl Soto, expressed that "we put the interest of Chileans, of pensioners first and, above all, of understanding that this is a significant step in the right direction."
“We are beginning to leave behind the monopoly system of the AFPs and are giving way to a new mixed system, which includes social security, which equalises the playing field for women with respect to men and which will have an impact on the increased pressure on future and current retirees,” she concluded.
Opposition MPs after approval of pension reform
The opposition also welcomed the historic agreement.
This was expressed by the deputy Ximena Ossandón (RN), who indicated that “criticisms are worthless when one has worked conscientiously. We have thought of all those retirees, both present and future, who are not having a good time.”
“We felt that we had to make an effort to engage in dialogue and it is impressive to think about how this project started and how it really ended. We are very happy with what we are experiencing today, because we believe that it is a transcendental step for Chilean politics, for retirees and for what lies ahead,” he added.
For his part, legislator Guillermo Ramírez (UDI) commented that “this is a great day for the country, since after 19 years of talking, dialoguing, trying to reach an agreement on pensions, this Congress has finally managed to push through a reform that will benefit Chile.”
“Today, Chile voted in favor thinking of the 2.8 million retirees who will benefit in one way or another. We voted in favor thinking of our children and grandchildren, because the generation of children who are less than fifteen years old will live more than one hundred years,” he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Jorge Guzmán (Evópli) said that “today the Chileans won. Here we have established who are the ones who are willing to legislate and move forward on important issues for Chile. This opposition, without outlining our principles and our values, defended a good agreement for Chile.”
"It was also established that the Republican Party and its followers are not prepared to govern, they do not provide governability to Chile and are not capable of proposing and advancing in the challenges of the country," he added.
Finally, Francisco Undurraga (Evópoli) pointed out that "our country advances better when it advances with agreements. We have pointed this out for a long time and particularly in the matter of pensions.
“Today we have an agreement that improves pensions now and, in the future, for the first time there will be compensation for women. For the first time there will be solidarity in the pension system. For the first time there will be social security in the pension system. That is why we believe that progress is being made,” he concluded.
