President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo confirmed this Thursday that before the end of October, she will present a constitutional reform initiative to Congress to end the so-called luxury pensions received by former officials of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Luz y Fuerza del Centro, and other decentralized agencies, as well as former development bank executives.
According to the president, the measure seeks to end an unequal and burdensome system for the treasury by eliminating what she described as “the absurdity of some former public officials receiving more than 400,000 or even a million pesos per month from the public budget while millions of Mexicans live on modest salaries or minimal pensions.”
Constitutional reform to limit privileges
Claudia Sheinbaum explained that the initiative will require a constitutional reform, as a secondary law could not be applied retroactively to previously acquired rights.
The proposal will establish constitutional limits on publicly funded pensions, setting a maximum ceiling for payments from the treasury to former officials of state agencies.
In addition, it contemplates a transparency and accountability regime so that all agencies and productive companies report on the pensions they provide and their annual cost.
The president emphasized that his government’s intention is to align special pensions with the principles of republican austerity, in order to guarantee equity among state workers.
“We will present it soon; all legal issues related to labor are being reviewed. But the proposal is practically ready; all the secretaries involved in this issue are reviewing it, and we will present it,” the president stated.
This situation, where people are receiving a pension of one million pesos per month or 400,000 pesos per month from the treasury, cannot exist, Sheinbaum added.
She noted that the cases are at Luz y Fuerza del Centro, Pemex, and some other decentralized government agencies, such as development banks.
“They can’t receive that much in pensions; it’s absurd. So, by law, it’s not possible. Precisely because of what we were talking about a while ago, that there can’t be, there can’t be a law that affects the past. There has to be a constitutional reform that establishes it, and that’s why we’re proposing the reform,” the President stated.
Sheinbaum stated that the proposal will be presented towards the end of October.
Source: debate
