Doubts about a political move that marginalizes the opposition and may be lost in time

Walter Schmidt

07/29/2020 - 19:16

• Clarín.com
• Opinion

The almost instinctive reaction that the spectator of a magic show has is to try to discover what is the trick , where is the trap. Politics has some trivial magic; for example, when the true objective is hidden and a distraction is made to hide the key fact. The problem is that in most cases, the threads of deception end up being discovered.

On Tuesday Together for Change, after a meeting via zoom in which Mauricio Macri was the one who spoke the least, Mario Negri explained the block's position vis-à-vis the moratorium project and the expansion of the Budget, and they asked Horacio Rodríguez Larreta what it implied the transfer of national courts to the scope of the City and how much funds it required, decided to reject the invitation made by the Casa Rosada through the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello to attend the presentation of the judicial reform. The representatives of that space in the Judicial Council did not attend either.

Former President Mauricio Macri and the head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.

"This helps us in some way to button up," slipped a PRO legislator. It happens that from the harshest to the most dialogues, all reject the judicial initiative. In addition, the decision not to accept the government's invitation marked the reorganization of the opposition coalition and a show of homogeneity, after the controversy over the statement that was spread as a result of the crime of Fabián Gutiérrez, and which had reflected the dispute between some and others, that it was taken advantage of by the ruling party.

The opposition mistrusts Alberto Fernández's double announcement, the judicial reform bill and the creation by decree of an advisory council that will analyze the expansion and operation of the Supreme Court, but also of the Judicial Council and the public prosecutor's office.

Several JxC leaders ask themselves, but do not want to assure it with all the letters, why Alberto Fernández creates a commission, with the presence of Cristina Kirchner's lawyer, to reform the Court without having sought the support of the opposition for its integration. Especially because beyond what that council concludes, which is not binding, the ruling party will need two thirds of the Senate, and that number does not have it.

"If you want to achieve the enlargement of the Court, which is what Cristina is interested in, you discussed it before, with the UCR, you probe it, you ask what happens if we create a commission to do this. Then you do the same with the PRO, with the Civic Coalition, with lavagnism, " suggested a radical leader.

The most skeptical remember that expanding the number of members of the Supreme Court requires only a simple majority . What is necessary for two thirds of those present (not of the 72 senators), that is, 48 ​​votes, is to approve the eventual candidates .

"If the opposition closes, there is no way. The only possibility we have is that there are absences and the number decreases," admits a Peronist. Of course, the Front of All with the allies, has 42 senators commanded by Cristina Kirchner. And that number is important if Together for Change does not have a unified position.

The other point is the times. Neither the reform nor the modification in the High Court would be before the end of the year. And 2021 is an election year.

With the same emphasis, the members of the commission are questioned, because they are representatives of provincial courts who do not have the profile to propose a modification in the functioning of the Court, the Council of the Magistracy and the prosecutors. There is no specialist in administrative, criminal law. "One of them has lived in Spain for 40 years , " they recall, referring to Enrique Bacigalupo.

Regarding judicial reform, they maintain that "80 or 90% of society is in favor of reform, the issue is whether the content of the project is intended for the colonization of a power or if it wants to provide more institutionality", a macrista thinks.

It is a common denominator in Together for Change the idea that there is no political, social and much less economic and health context to debate this judicial and Court reform . "It is not a priority," they indicate.

And another point deserves the complete transfer of criminal powers to the City, in a period not exceeding two years, for which until now national criminal and correctional courts will become district. But of course, that would also lead to a transfer of funds in terms of wages, among other expenses. For now, close to the head of the Buenos Aires government they maintain that they do not have any detail of the announcement even as the number of courts, the fueros, making it difficult for them to calculate the funds they would need from the Nation.

The question is whether the good relationship between Alberto Fernández and Rodríguez Larreta will prevail so that the transfer of courts is with the corresponding funds. Or if a dispute will open and the "good coexistence" between those who have been working side by side against the pandemic will end.