People wanting to hear more about the country’s financial outlook probably were disappointed when Monday’s Parliament plenary session on the issue was cancelled due to the lack of a quorum (see related story). In fact there were
enough elected representatives in the assembly hall, but the coalition was one short of its minimal majority and those of the opposition present refused to sign in.
Many no doubt disagree with the latter approach, but it has become common in local politics. The reasoning is that when the governing parties call a meeting they should make sure to have enough members present.
Mind you, the practice also can backfire for the opposition in the sense that any debate they might request can be boycotted easily by the coalition in the same manner. In any case there is a procedure whereby the session can be reconvened and – in case there is still no majority – once again, at which point a quorum is no longer required.
Some may find these delay tactics a bit childish and it was certainly a waste of valuable time not in the least for Finance Minister Richard Gibson, who had been invited. But more importantly, information that might have proved quite valuable was withheld from the public.
Not that any earth-shattering revelations could be expected with the “shotgun” 2016 budget and multi-annual prognoses already having received the green light from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. Still, there remain enough relevant topics to talk about, such as the recent downgrading by Moody’s and fiscal policy intentions.
One related aspect that has come up is the negative advice by the Social Economic Council SER reported on in today’s paper, regarding the William Marlin Cabinet’s plan to lawfully reduce the pension premiums for civil servants from the current 25 to 22 per cent. It turns out the latter amount had been applied erroneously since 10-10-10 and the difference is meanwhile being collected retroactively.
SER did not directly indicate possible consequences for the national treasury and government’s debt position with the general pension fund APS if the idea is indeed abandoned. Now, that probably would have made for an interesting discussion.
