The Government announced that it will suspend
11,853 cooperatives
that had been
suspended in 2019
and announced that the Ministry of Human Capital
will purge the national register of cooperatives.
“It has seen countless irregularities and has gone from 9,978 to 23,836 cooperatives in recent years. This is another box that disappears and that Argentines stop supporting,” said presidential spokesperson
Manuel Adorni
in his morning press conference at Casa Rosada. However, as happened with the announcement of state layoffs, which
went from 70 thousand to 15 thousand
, the dismantling of INADI and the closure of Télam, the information may not be exactly what the Government reported.
The mystery will only be revealed next Wednesday when an administrative resolution of the
National Institute of Associativism and Social Economy
(INAES) is published in the Official Gazette, but it began 5 days ago.
On Friday, the board of directors of the organization - which
is 85% financed by fees charged to its members
-, which is made up of three representatives of the State, two for the mutuals and two for the cooperatives, voted to carry out a new administrative procedure to that solidarity entities are updated with the required information.
A
5-page document
that the ministry led by
Sandra Pettovello
transmitted to the Presidency highlights that the cooperatives will have a
period of 30 days
to send the documentation of their assemblies and the approval of their balance sheets.
This text explains that it will be immediately suspended so that
5,794 cooperatives
established between 2020 and 2022 cannot carry out procedures with the INAES, 72 percent of those registered in those 24 months,
owed the ordinary annual documentation
(accounting statements and minutes of meetings). If they do not update the required information within a month, their authorization to operate would be withdrawn.
The State will also verify the addresses of the
4,355 cooperatives
that were established in 2023 and could suspend the operations of those that are registered with the same email or at the same address.
The Government focuses on
11,853 cooperatives
that
Mauricio Macri
's administration had suspended in 2019.
In Human Capital they complain because Alberto Fernández
's management
did not remove their authorization to work and because he lifted the suspension of 1,433 of that universe. According to the Executive's calculation, there are
10,420 suspended cooperatives
that could be operating. In Capital Humano they insist that a summary will be carried out to remove their authorization. Strictly speaking, according to Law 20337, the suspension only prevents them from carrying out procedures or requesting benefits from the INAES, but not from working.
Regarding the delay in the delivery of documentation, in the cooperative universe they explain that a legal balance sheet per year, with the signature of an accountant, had a cost last year of
$200,000
. Regarding the repeated emails and addresses of the cooperatives, they argue that the
managers who register them are usually the same
and that the number of units grew exponentially due to the
pandemic
. They also question the presidential spokesperson for pointing out that there are cooperative members registered in more than one cooperative, something that is not prevented by law, in the same way that a worker can work for two SAs.
In dialogue with
Clarín
, the former president of INAES
Alex Roig
defended the increase in registered cooperatives in the last 4 years thanks to
resolution 1000/2021
on registration simplification. “After cross-referencing data with public organizations, we discovered that many of these entities continued to operate. We implemented a documentary moratorium to allow them to regularize their status. At the end, we proceeded to begin the processes of withdrawing authorization for all entities, including those thousands that had not participated in the moratorium,” said the academic and cooperative expert linked to the
Evita movement
.
The current president of the organization
Marcelo Collomb
, a permanent technician respected by the rest of the members of the board, tried to reassure the cooperative and mutual groups who immediately warned about the possibility of
a wave of lawsuits against the State
if it withdraws their authorization to work.
“They were
about to shoot themselves in the foot
,” said a sector leader. The fact is that among the cooperatives and mutuals there are powerful market players such as ACA,
the main grain exporter
; Sancor; Workers' Cooperative and the Military Life Insurance Society. Today
it is no longer on the agenda to close the organization
.