Javier Milei
adds noise in his relationship with the governors
just six days after meeting with the provincial leaders of JxC. The Government decided to eliminate, through
DNU 280/24 published
on Thursday, the transfers that ANSES made to the retirement funds that are still in control of
13 provinces
,
four of them near La Rosada
. The Executive's decision is added to the elimination of the National Teaching Fund and the Transportation Compensation Fund, which had already stopped paying and was executed this Thursday by DNU and the delays in the payment of the School Food Service.
In the group of provinces that did not transfer their pension funds to the Nation and should receive national funds, there are
districts of all political stripes
.
Peronists
and allies include
Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Tierra del Fuego;
provincial ruling parties
such as Córdoba, Misiones, Neuquén and Santa Cruz; and
the former JxC
that still function as a unit to negotiate with Rosada, Chaco, Chubut, Corrientes and Santa Fe (JxC).
Since January, the Government had stopped transferring the million-dollar items to the provinces that had also complained to Alberto Fernández
's management
for updating the co-participable amounts with which the ANSES is financed. On Wednesday, through the DNU, it eliminated
articles 92, 93 and 94 of the 2023 Budget law
- which is in force in the absence of a law for 2024 - and which obliged the Government to cover that difference before the 20th. of each month, a policy established during the administration of
Mauricio Macri to settle a long judicial discussion
between the Nation and the provinces.
During his brief management at ANSES, the new president of the Mediterranean Foundation
Osvaldo Giordano
offered to cover the national debt with resources from the
Sustainability Guarantee Fund
(FGS), but the proposal failed. The former head of ANSES blamed the Minister of Economy
Luis Caputo
for the decrease in the sending of funds, in an interview with La Voz del Interior. The wife of the former official, deputy
Alejandra Torres
- who had voted against the articles of the omnibus law that meant the expulsion of Giordano from the Government - also charged against the new DNU. “The decree thus consolidates
a rude and irritating discrimination between provinces
”, She wrote on the X network.
Video
Guillermo Francos spoke about the postponement of the meeting with governors. The Minister of the Interior gave details about the suspension of the meeting to debate the Base Law and the tax reform.
In the Cabinet of Martín Llaryora they point out that it is bad news, but they maintain that the decree opened a door for them to move forward with a substantive solution in the Federal Justice. "Before, the Nation had a debt of between $240 and $400 million with the province. Now
they consolidated something that is illegal and we have a legal framework
," they explained near the Córdoba while they define whether to appeal to the
Supreme Court or a Federal Chamber
. In the Mediterranean province, however, they maintain that their support for the omnibus law is not at risk unless the ruling party decides to use the FGS for other purposes, an alternative that does not appear in the draft today.
The Santa Fe governor Maximiliano Pullaro was the first to raise his voice against the Government through his pension secretary
Jorge Boasso
. “While Milei calls for consensus among the governors to accompany him in his laws,
he decrees a cut in funds owed by law
,” the radical leader complained.
The Pullaro official did not rule out
going to the Supreme Court
, which continues to add files from the provinces against the national State. The outgoing administration of Santa Fe, led by Peronist
Omar Perotti,
had filed a lawsuit 45 days before leaving power for the debt consolidated until December 31. The Santa Fe executive indicates that the Nation owes between $600,000 and $700 million to the provinces, according to the index of the Argentine Integrated Pension System (SIPA) of the ANSES.
The Santa Fe government weaves a combined political and legal strategy with Córdoba and Entre Ríos, although the districts would act separately. Last week, in addition, Pullaro added a
suggestive photo with Axel Kicillof
with the excuse of a management agreement on security on the border between both provinces.
Córdoba also sued the Nation for the same reason. Juan Schiaretti months ago presented two lawsuits before the ANSES for the consolidated debt that his successor Llaryora will continue; in addition to activating a third appeal for the brand new DNU.
In addition to Pullaro, the rest of the affected JxC governors warned that they would take the
claim to the Casa Rosada again next Thursday
. The issue worries them much more than the
elimination of the FONID or the Transportation Compensation Fund
that the Government also made official in the same DNU.
Accumulated claims: Fonid, Transportation, School Service, debts for US$ 5 billion and the Court waiting
The call for an
economic commission
to discuss the fiscal package remains paralyzed. The Income Tax
also divides governors
. An Excel circulates among the provincial leaders with the Nation's debts to the provinces: $248 billion of undistributed ATN, $2.1 billion for Income Taxes; $265 billion in fuel taxes; $285 billion for fuel taxes; $1.45 billion more than projected for the 2024 fiscal consensus; which gives a total of almost
5 billion dollars
.
National debts are offset by those contracted by the provinces, especially with the dozen that - like Chubut - put up the
co-participable funds
that correspond to them as
collateral
.
Leaders who work to arm some governors believe that the latest decisions of the Executive could unite the will of the governors in the Lower House to reject Mega
DNU 70/2023, which has already suffered a setback in the Senate
.
The Ministry of the Interior remains confident that they will gather the necessary votes to approve the
new version of the omnibus law
and the increasingly limited fiscal package.
Guillermo Francos
promised the governors of the North on Tuesday in Salta that he will enable the paralyzed works that have financing from multilateral organizations.
On March 19, the Government managed to deactivate the session in Deputies in which opposition blocs and governors sought to reestablish the
National Teacher Incentive Fund
(FONID) by law. “They adjourned the session, but
the Government shot the FONID for DNU
,” reasoned former Lavagnista deputy
Alejandro “Topo” Rodríguez
, from the Federal Consensus Institute.
Indeed, in the same DNU 280/24 on Thursday - in which he eliminated transfers to the retirement funds of 13 provinces - the President signed the
death certificate of FONID
. On page 181 of Annex I of the decree,
the $276,262 million
that appeared in the extended 2023 Budget are eliminated.
The FONID was
established in 1998
to counteract the differences between provincial and national teacher partnerships. The Government stopped paying it and on February 10, the Ministers of Education of the
24 provinces complained
to the national secretary Carlos Torrendell about the debt.
Some provinces went further:
Misiones appealed to the Supreme Court
for the Government to release the committed funds. The governor of Río Negro Alberto Weretilneck also filed an injunction in the Federal Court of Viedma to recover educational funds.
As with the FONID, the Government also eliminated the Interior compensation fund in the DNU, which in 2023 was equivalent to
$102 billion
destined to subsidize interurban transportation outside the AMBA. La Pampa filed a complaint with the Supreme Court about the cut. Chubut, meanwhile, obtained approval in the Federal Chamber after presenting a precautionary measure, which the Government decided to appeal, and Santiago del Estero had also filed a lawsuit in the same sense.
Added to those mentioned are the complaints before the Court presented by two of the toughest opponents,
Axel Kicillof from Buenos Aires
and
Ricardo Quintela
from Rioja . The first appealed to the highest Court for the elimination of the
Fiscal Strengthening Fund
(which was equivalent to 2 co-participation points from CABA). The man from Rioja asked that the Court declare Mega-DNU 70 unconstitutional. In addition,
Ignacio Torres from Chubut and
Leandro Zdero
from Chaco
asked that the Profits reform be declared unconstitutional, while the missionary Passalacqua also claimed for the reforms in DNU 70 to the National Yerba Mate Institute. While pushing its candidates to the highest Court in the Senate, where the governors stomp, the Government adds bad mood among the provincial leaders.
In recent weeks, a dozen provinces have complained to the Government about the decision to transfer the
School Food Service
(SAE) from the Secretariat of Children, Adolescents and Family to Education and about the delays in the transfers. “Four months have already been lost and this bureaucratically means that it will take us two more months for this assistance, although poor and scarce, to reach the provinces,” complained the Buenos Aires minister
Andrés Larroque
.