Brasília, October 1, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Following an entire day of negotiations with opposition parties and governors, leaders of the government and the parties that form the government's support base in the Senate announced an agreement to alter the Social Security reform to benefit retirees who suffer from illnesses that prevent them from working.

The floor permitting exemption from the 11% social security contribution will be doubled, relative to the amounts approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Thus, inactive state employees who suffer from these health problems will be exempt up to R$ 2,400; retired federal civil servants, up to R$ 2,880; and pensioners at any government level, up to R$ 4,800.

This information was provided by the leader of the government in the Senate, Aloízio Mercadante (PT-SP), Tuesday evening (30), after the second meeting of the day with leaders from all parties. At the first meeting, shortly after noon, the leaders reached an agreement on voting the 200 amendments to the Social Security reform proposal deemed to warrant special attention and slated for a vote in the Constitution, Justice, and Citizenship Commission (CCJ). With the agreement, the meeting of the CCJ was postponed from yesterday (30) to today (1), at 10 A.M.

The opposition parties, according to the leader of the PSDB, Senator Arthur Virgílio (AM), agreed not to obstruct voting in the CCJ, as they did last week during the discussion of the document presented by the reporter of the social security reform, Senator Tião Viana (PT-AC).

"We agreed not to obstruct, but we shall not give up the right to vote our amendments in the CCJ to change the text of the reform," commented Senator José Agripino (RN), leader of the other opposition party, the PFL.

During the negotiations, it was decided that all the proposed changes will be included in a parallel constitutional reform amendment, which will be considered together with the Social Security reform bill. This alternative will keep the original reform from having to return to the Chamber of Deputies, which would have to examine the changes introduced in the Senate. Thus, the reform will be promulgated in the form approved by the Deputies, and the changes introduced in the Senate will be submitted to the Deputies, separately.

Another item that is practically certain to be modified in the social security reform foresees changing the salary sub-ceiling of state government executives. The Deputies approved setting the governor's salary as the ceiling on salaries and retirement benefits. However, in some states the governor's salary is small, which affects public service careers, since, unless a change is made, the salaries of the highest paid civil servants may be reduced.

The parallel reform will offer a solution to the problem of executive sub-ceilings, and one of the ideas that is being discussed envisions that governors will have 60 days to send state legislative assemblies a project determining a new salary for the governor, so long as it does not exceed that of state judicial magistrates, who are limited to receiving 90.25% of the salary paid to Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court.

The government also agreed on including in the parallel reform instruments for the social control of federal, state, and municipal social security, permitting greater supervision by society and greater transparency in accounts.

In any case, negotiations between the government and opposition parties continue. At first, according to the leader, Aloízio Mercadante, the governors did not accept demands made by Senators, from either the allied base or the opposition, to introduce a transition phase between the current and the new retirement systems for civil servants, to benefit individuals who are close to requesting retirement.

During the voting today in the CCJ, the reporter should divide the 200 amendments that were singled out for attention into 15 blocks of topics. It was decided at the meetings that each party will indicate one Senator to defend the proposed changes, so that the session is not prolonged by Senators from the same party defending the same amendments.

This information comes from the Senate's web site. (DAS)