CHILE: Piñera's offer. Too little, too late?

CHILE - In Brief 23 Oct 2019 by Robert Funk

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President Sebastián Piñera took to national television on Tuesday night to announce a series of measures that seek to do two things; to respond to the demands of protesters who have been on the streets since last Friday, and to save his skin. Whether he succeeded is not, at this point, entirely clear. In addition to doing something he rarely does – saying sorry – Piñera made six major policy announcements: A 20% increase to the basic public pensions (destined to the poorest) and a publicly funded top-up of pensions to the middle class. This would raise the average pension to about 250.000 pesos (U$345, at 725 pesos per USD), still far below the minimum wage of 301.000 pesos (U$415).A publicly funded minimum wage top-up for workers, which would permit a basic universal wage of 350.000 pesos, or U$483.A price stabilization mechanism for electricity prices, which will revert this month’s jump of almost 10%. A salary decrease for congressmen and women, and high-level government workers. Piñera also recommended reducing the number of parliamentarians. This is unlikely to get through Congress for two reasons. Earlier that same day the House of Deputies held a vote, proposed by the Frente Amplio, to reduce salaries in Congress (which amount to about U$12.000 a month), and the idea was rejected en masse by the right. On the other hand, the idea of reducing the number of representatives in Congress will be rejected outright by the center and left, not only because the current number was part of the recent electoral reform, but because it’s necessary to ensure greater representation (the greater the district magnitude (number of seats), the lower the barriers to entry). A 5% tax...