The maneuver, which the groups considered a “Madrogonazo,” was carried out with the approval of six members out of nine (party seats) and three abstentions (independent deputies), so that the committee recommended to the plenary session to approve the appointment of a businessman, presented by the President of the Republic, José Raúl Molino.
In response to questions from lawmakers before its approval, Moon pledged not to privatize the only public institution serving retirees and pensioners, and that information was needed to take first measures to save it from the current structural and financial crisis.
Questions to Moon began at 11:30 p.m. local time the day before and ended at 2:00 a.m. local time on Thursday with the recommendation for ratification.
When asked about CSS’s finances, Moon said 2024 is coming up and “we have no idea what information will allow us to pinpoint where the problem is and from there we can all start building together.”
He also said that the Head of State is holding talks with various sectors on reforms to the institution’s statute.
Moon arrives at the most critical moment for CSS, with a pension subsystem in bankruptcy, serious administrative and technological problems, and massive investments on the horizon.
According to the latest report from the Actuarial Technical Council, more than $14 billion will be needed to cover pension payments over this decade.
The day before, before the plenary session, the Secretary General of the National Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CONUSI), Marco Andrade, on behalf of the popular organizations, rejected the government’s proposal to appoint businessman Dino Moon as the new director of the CSS.
Andrade reminded the deputies that the proposed official comes from insurance companies that deal with the people’s money.
Moon was an advocate of normative measures such as raising the retirement age for women and men and quotas for workers and employers, and in 2005 he was an ally of social security reforms that divided taxpayers and ended the Solidarity system. Today the institution is in the midst of a severe financial crisis.
In this sense, the conscience of legislators, especially the so-called independents who make up the Vamos body, called on them not to accept Moon and to show their commitment to the transparency of the CSS.
In the use of the floor, about 10 minutes of courtesy, Andrade denounced that there are elements that indicate the interest of gradually privatizing the CSS, as in the case of cleaning services or so-called outsourcing, amidst a serious shortage of medicines, interruptions of medical consultations and other health services.
On the same day, popular and trade union groups also demonstrated around AN to deny that the director appointed by the CSS executive had obtained the approval of the Permanent Credentials Committee.
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