Vote on Brazil pension system reform slated for Feb 19

Brazil’s lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia scheduled the debate on the overhaul in the country’s pension system for February 5. The vote is expected to start shortly after Carnival,  on February 19.

Maia said the original text has been “contaminated” and that “communication was little effective,” but he believes that all the conditions necessary to bring it under debate will have come about by February. “Reception by society has improved a lot, and it should get even better over the next few weeks”, he argued.

On Tuesday (Dec. 12), President Michel Temer had already mentioned that the pension reform might not be voted this year, in case it was believed it lacked the necessary amount of votes to approve it—308 of the 513 members of the lower house, in two rounds. The overhaul would also have to receive the approval of the Senate in two votes.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira