Special committee to discuss Social Security postponed until 2017.

Following an agreement between leaders of parties from the government's base and the opposition regarding the reading of the opinion of Congressman Alceu Moreira (PMDB-RS) on the constitutionality of the proposed amendment to the Constitution regarding pension reform, the parties opposed to the admissibility of the proposal ended their obstruction of proceedings; in exchange, the government committed to creating and installing the special committee for the amendment only next year, after the parliamentary recess.

December 14, 2016, 21:35 AMUpdated July 03, 2018, 23:08 pm

After an agreement between leaders of parties from the government and the opposition for the reading of the opinion of Congressman Alceu Moreira (PMDB-RS) on the constitutionality of the Pension Reform Amendment, the parties opposed to the admissibility of the proposal stopped obstructing the proceedings; in exchange, the government committed to creating and installing the special committee for the Amendment only next year, after the parliamentary recess (Photo: Gisele Federicce)

Luciano Nascimento - Reporter for Agência Brasil

Following an agreement between leaders of government and opposition parties, the reading of the opinion of Deputy Alceu Moreira (PMDB-RS) on the constitutionality of Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) 287/16, which deals with pension reform, has just begun in the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies. In a session marked by a strong clash between the government and the opposition, the parties opposed to the admissibility of the proposal stopped obstructing the proceedings. In exchange, the government committed to creating and installing the special committee for the PEC only next year, after the parliamentary recess.

The agreement was forged amidst behind-the-scenes discussions surrounding the succession of Congressman Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ) as Speaker of the House. The intention is for the installation of the special committee on Pension Reform to occur after the election of the new Speaker of the House and the new party leaders.

Initially, the government intended to create the commission this year to expedite the review of the Social Security Reform Amendment. The intention was to allow party leaders to nominate members by next week, before the start of the National Congress recess. With this, the expectation was to vote on the proposal in the Chamber's plenary session by April of next year, before it goes to the Senate.

The agreement with the opposition was limited to the procedures adopted by the committee and does not concern the merits of the admissibility of the proposed constitutional amendment. According to the proposal, the opposition will withdraw all requests from the so-called "obstruction kit" during the discussion phase of the report. Five members of opposition parties and three government allies will discuss the matter. Deputies who present separate opinions will also have the floor. It was also agreed that the admissibility vote will be by roll call.