The Government put together a letter from governors supporting the removal of co-participation

Ignacio Ortelli

09/10/2020 - 17:52

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Faced with the judicial front that is opening and in the midst of the questions from the bulk of the opposition, the Government sought to surround with political support the decision that President Alberto Fernández made to cut the City's co-participation percentage by 1.18 to transfer more funds to the province of Buenos Aires. 

The day after the announcement, contacts between ministers and government officials with governors intensified

, which contrasts with the position they set before that decree of necessity and urgency signed by Mauricio Macri to increase the City's share of 1.4 to 3.75%, by virtue of the transfer of the Federal Police.

It was precisely because of the governors' claim that, two years later, Macri reduced that percentage to 3.5%, which Fernández now set at 2.32%. 

Although the governors

(Santiago del Estero) and

(San Juan) had already spoken via Twitter and bowed to the recognition that Axel Kicillof made to the President for restoring the "resources that historically belonged to the people of Buenos Aires",

the presentation this afternoon by the head of the Buenos Aires Government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.

For this reason, they intensified contacts so that the PJ governors and the allies of the provincial parties expressed their support as a bloc.

This Thursday, the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero, had two virtual meetings with

(Santa Cruz) and

(Tucumán)

for management reasons

.

And the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo "Wado" De Pedro, exchanged messages with a large group of leaders. 

Finally, 19 governors signed a document entitled "Reduce inequalities for a Federal Argentina", in which they support "the measure announced by President Alberto Fernández to begin to correct the imbalances of a concentrated country" and trust that it will allow " reopen the dialogue on the distribution of resources to avoid any type of favoritism in the distribution of funds or projects. "

In addition to Kicillof, Uñac and Zamora, and except for the

(Corrientes),

(Jujuy) and

(Mendoza);

and the Peronist Juan Schiaretti (Córdoba), all the governors signed.

Including leaders who had a good relationship with Macri, such as Omar Gutiérrez (Neuquén) and Gustavo Sáenz (Salta). 

The text had already been outlined between Cafiero and De Pedro with the governors in February, in view of what seemed an imminent cut, but which was finally put on standby, first due to Alberto F.'s strategy of reaching a "consensual" agreement and , then, by the pandemic.

At that negotiating table that Fernández had drawn up, the difference was wide: while the Nation wanted to cut about $ 35 billion -1.1 percent-, from the City they tolerated half, but they conceded that even in the worst case, with a 0.75% pruning, could be fixed. 

However, in the face of the crisis due to the pandemic, the scenario is different: for the City, it represents a hard blow, both in the immediate and in the future: there are

that Larreta had to close its 2020 Budget and a loss of

for next year.

"We knew that they were going to return to the charge for the co-participation, but we thought that it would only be after the pandemic," they admit, containing fury, from the headquarters of Uspallata.

The national government 

 to show that it is about funds that strictly cover the expenses demanded by the operation of the Federal Police in Buenos Aires territory.

"Patricia (Bullrich) did not give us an extra peso," they clarify, based on the transfer of funds made by the Ministry of Security in 2016, as provided in paragraph 2 of article 75 of the Constitution, which indicates that " There will be no transfer of powers, services or functions without the respective reallocation of resources. "

In that case, it will be the national government that must justify this surplus.

For this reason, the technical teams of the Ministry of the Interior, led by the Secretary of Provinces, 

, who carried out the negotiations with the City, compile all the documentation that will be necessary in the judicial battle. 

From the political point of view, in the Casa Rosada they trust that Larreta's position will be succeeded by a strong support from the governors vindicating the decision. But, at the same time, they reject the criticisms that question the measure was given without consensus. They warn that Alberto F. was even benevolent with his DNU: they note that 

that the Nation, as

, states that the City received more between 2016 and 2019; Nor did it make a "retroactive" cut in funds for the first eight months of the year, "which continued to collect." "A bigger cut could have been made, given that the discussion began in January to make it concrete as of March," said a sword from the Cabinet, which aims to maintain bridges of dialogue.