Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks throughout the opening of the brand new session of Colombia’s Congress in Bogota, Colombia, July 20, 2024. | Photograph credit score: Reuters
Colombia’s authorities will suggest legal guidelines geared toward reforming the well being sector and search adjustments to labor legal guidelines, President Gustavo Petro mentioned July 20 as he opened a brand new session of Congress.
Mr. Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, has pushed by an formidable set of financial adjustments that embrace overhauling the pension system, elevating the minimal wage and redistributing land to farmers affected by Colombia’s armed battle.
He succeeded in elevating the minimal wage final 12 months and his pension plan was authorised by Congress earlier this 12 months, however he has struggled to steer lawmakers to undertake his concepts on labor legal guidelines and the well being care system.
The coalition of political events that joined Petro’s authorities firstly of his time period has disintegrated attributable to ideological variations. In the meantime, quite a few corruption scandals involving authorities ministers and the president’s eldest son have diminished Petro’s recognition.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech in Colombia on July 20, 2024. | Photograph credit score: AP
Left-wing events loyal to the president maintain their largest variety of legislative seats in Colombia’s historical past, however lack the 50% majority wanted to go legal guidelines on their very own and have been compelled to barter with centrist and right-wing events.
On well being care, Petro needs a authorities company to gather billions of {dollars} in insurance coverage premiums from Colombians, bypassing the non-public insurance coverage corporations that at present handle a lot of the well being care system.
Within the labor sector, he needs to make it more durable for corporations to rent short-term staff and require employers to pay staff full wages on days off. He additionally proposed that lawmakers scale back the workweek from 47 to 40 hours, arguing that might enhance employment and enhance productiveness.
Mr. Petro advised Congress on July 20 that elevating the minimal wage by 16% final 12 months helped scale back poverty, which fell by 10% in 2023 and is now at ranges just like these seen in 2019, based on the Nationwide Statistics Division.
“We’re protecting our guarantees” to cut back inequality, the President mentioned.
Petro is nearing the midway level of his four-year time period, which ends in August 2026. Critics say his authorities has struggled to include inflation and gather taxes.
In his speech to Congress, Petro urged Colombia’s central financial institution to chop rates of interest as a technique to enhance financial development. He recommended Congress might assist curb inflation by “controlling hypothesis” in property leases and curbing electrical energy charges.
Petro additionally mentioned his authorities will suggest a invoice to permit Congress to shortly approve laws associated to the 2016 peace deal between Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He mentioned implementation of the deal is lagging in areas comparable to land distribution and financial improvement initiatives for rural communities.
Critics have raised issues about efforts to fast-track laws, arguing that such mechanisms may very well be used to provide extra energy to the president and eradicate time period limits.
