By Meritxell Freixas |
Santiago de Chile (EFE).- After dedicating half of the mandate to “stabilizing” the country and “recovering” from the pandemic and the social crisis of 2019, the Government of Chile will surrender, in the two years it has left , to “achieve the pending progress” in terms of pensions, taxes and security, said its spokesperson, Camila Vallejo, in an interview with EFE.
“We came to the Government first to stabilize; second, to make the country grow again; and third, to transform,” said the spokesperson in a conversation at the La Moneda Palace.
For the first thing, Vallejo, who came to office in March 2022 and has survived three cabinet changes, explained that the Executive reduced inflation by more than 10 points, recovered almost 500,000 jobs and established the mining royalty, a tax on large mining that he described as “very transformative advance” that delivers wealth to “neglected communities.”
“They were changes that were pending,” he noted, in addition to mentioning the increase in the minimum wage to 500,000 pesos (about $500) and the reduction of the working day to 40 hours, a law that he pushed during his time as a parliamentarian (2014- 2018 and 2018-2022) and which he considers to be one of the most “exciting” that he has announced from his position.
For the minister of the General Secretariat of Government (Segegob), “there has been substantive progress in the purposes”, although she recognized that being a minority in Parliament they face difficulties in dispatching the two main bets: the pension reforms and the tax reform.
“We continue in that effort and we still have two years to achieve it,” said the former student leader.
“Confident” in the new leadership of the Chamber in Chile
A little over a year ago, the Chamber of Deputies rejected an ambitious tax reform that sought to raise 3.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in four years.
After facing a hard legislative blow, the Executive reconsidered the fiscal pact, lowered revenue expectations to 2.7% and divided the initiative into different projects that have been presented separately in the Chamber, where the increase in rates for the most rich is the main obstacle.
“Those who have more are not always available to make greater contributions to finance more security, social housing or increased pensions,” criticized Vallejo.
The Lower House elected a new board on Monday, led by its former benchmate, the communist parliamentarian Karol Cariola, and the Christian Democrats and the People’s Party, with a right-wing populist tendency, in the vice presidency.
After having to deal with a “very obstructionist” opposition, the spokesperson was “confident” that the new board of directors – “quite transversal”, she specified – will be able to “take charge of the priorities of the social agenda pushed by the Executive.” .
“Balancing is not a problem”
A geographer by training and a member of the Communist Party, the wing most anchored to the left of the Executive, Vallejo said that “striking balances” between the sectors of the traditional center-left, the most moderate of the government coalition, and those more aligned to the left, such as the Frente Amplio of President Gabriel Boric or the communists themselves, “has not been a problem,” but “it is part of good politics and the art of governing.”
“The grace of our Government is that it brought together political forces that at the time had differences,” and insisted that “uniting” has allowed them to “stabilize, normalize conflictive situations, grow the economy and make profound changes.”
Although the latest surveys place her among the authorities with the lowest citizen approval – a reflection of “the ups and downs of the contingency,” she said – and despite being one of the most exposed figures in the ministerial cabinet, she admitted feeling comfortable in the position. “even in difficult times.”
“In the face of conflictive situations, one thinks about how they might have done it or what might have happened to others when they were in the same chair that I am in now,” the spokesperson reflected.
In a retrospective of his 12 years of political career, he concludes: “When you are in the opposition you tend to see a part of reality (…) but from the Executive the view must necessarily be broader because you have to execute the change.”
