The President launches the Economic and Social Council: focus on the medium and long term, without inflation or insecurity on the agenda

02/19/2021 11:47 AM

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 02/19/2021 11:47 AM

President Alberto Fernández announced on Friday the creation of the Economic and Social Council, together with the Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz, who will preside over the multisectoral body aimed at addressing long-term State policies in matters such as productivity and social integration;

environment and climate change;

job;

food security and innovative democracy.

As

Clarín

had anticipated

, this Economic and Social Council will work on "priority" axes for the medium and long term, but it will not be to discuss conjunctural and short-term issues

, such as inflation, equality and insecurity, for example.

The body, which will be created by presidential decree, will be made up of 30 members arising from dialogue with business, union, academic and civil society sectors;

and its function will be to develop an institutional agenda that will overcome the situation and mark State policies for the next 30 years, the Presidency reported in a statement.

The axis of the Economic and Social Council will be the

"development of State policies" in the medium and long term

 and will be made up of representatives of business, trade unions, the academic sector and civil society.

Gustavo Beliz, in his capacity as Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Nation, has been developing a series of meetings with the whole range of international organizations accredited in the country, during which he has analyzed international experiences compared to Economic and Social Councils.

For example, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy.

Several of these meetings took place with union representatives.

Likewise, the United Nations Economic and Social Council was taken as a reference.

The representatives of the UNDP at the regional and local levels, the ILO, ECLAC and the entire United Nations system held a meeting months ago with Beliz and President Fernández where they promised to support the entire process, both methodological and conceptual content. that will guide the discussions.

This Council

had acquired some form on July 9 of last year, when Alberto Fernández received union members and businessmen

at the Presidential Residence of Olivos.

But the pandemic stopped the official initiative, because since then, everything was emergency measures in the middle of the quarantine and then, the difficult search for vaccines against the coronavirus.

The definitions of this Council will not be binding and will be submitted to the President, who could then define that some initiatives take parliamentary character.

"Discuss the structural, nothing of the conjuncture. This is cultural, little by little to try to change the Argentine political culture. Without shouting, listening to the other because the truth is symphonic", is part of the line that Gustavo Beliz lowered to his collaborators.

For this former Carlos Menem and Néstor Kirchner official - who ran out of politics for 17 years until his return with Alberto Fernández - it will be a challenge.

JPE

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