Co-participation: upset by the presidential retreat, Peronist governors prepare a response

Contacts between the Peronist Governors intensified in recent hours, after President Alberto Fernández announced his decision to abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice, which ordered him to return part of the co-participating funds that had been cut in 2020 to the City of Buenos Aires. Although they remain silent, they do not rule out establishing a joint position again.

It was the provincial leaders who put the most pressure on the President not to comply with the judicial order and everything seemed to be going in that direction, until -through a Twitter thread- Alberto Fernández announced that he would pay the CABA with bonds, until the recusal of the judges of the highest Court and the request to revoke the ruling, which will be made by the Nation, which would take at least until February, is resolved.

Also read: Strong secrecy in the Supreme Court after Alberto Fernández's move for co-participation

It was the way that the Government defined to get out of the crossroads in which it found itself, between the pressure of the Governors and an order of the Supreme Court of Justice, but, like any decision of this magnitude, it did not satisfy everyone.

As soon as the Court's ruling was known, 14 of the 19 Governors who had originally accompanied the President in his decision to cut co-participatory funds to the CABA, rejected the court ruling. All Peronists. Only Omar Perotti, from Santa Fe, chose this time to stay on the sidelines.

The four leaders who report to provincial parties also questioned the judicial ruling, but they differed in the decision not to abide by it, the other 14 had accompanied the presidential announcement last week. But everything changed in just three days.

In order to avoid any of the complaints that the opposition was preparing and avoid an institutional crisis, due to the strong criticism he had received from different sectors, Alberto Fernández finally decided to abide by the ruling, but in order not to confront hard Kirchnerism, he announced the payment with bonds .

The announcement took some of the Peronist Governors by surprise, who almost immediately began contacts to see what position to adopt. They all called for silence, but as TN learned, they do not rule out establishing a joint position in the next few hours.

Also read: Co-participation: the Buenos Aires Government rejected the Nation's decision to pay with bonds

In addition to the content, the debate is whether to do it before or after Cristina Kirchner's speech, given that the vice president could refer to the issue at the inauguration of a sports center in the Buenos Aires town of Avellaneda, which will have her as the main speaker. Her questions to the judicial system are not usually left out of any of her presentations.

A few hours before, the President will appear in public with the Governors of Santiago del Estero, Gerardo Zamora; from Chaco, Jorge Capitanich, and from Santa Fe, Omar Perotti, who will share a new meeting of the Bajos Submeridionales. Ministers Gabriel Katopodis and Eduardo "Wado" de Pedro will also be present.

It is clear that the fight is for resources, but what the Government recognized is that the blanket is short and not enough for everyone. The co-participating funds that the City receives were in dispute since the beginning of Alberto Fernández's administration, but he had not been able to reach an agreement.

The debate is about the percentage of co-participation that former President Mauricio Macri recognized to the City of Buenos Aires for the transfer of the Federal Police. Kirchnerism considers that "it was excessive and the Court's ruling proves it right by ordering to return only a part of what was cut," they say from the league of governors.

Also read: Conflict over co-participation: Alberto Fernández announced that he will pay the City with bonds

However, if what is transferred to each of the 24 jurisdictions as co-participation according to the wealth they generate is taken into account, CABA is the district that receives the least, barely $11 out of every $100, according to data from the Invecq consultancy. The provinces put the axis in the amount of resources that are transferred according to population.

The Governors know that this is not the time to leave the President alone in his decision to abide by the Court's ruling, which is why they accompany the announcement that a project will be sent to be debated in Congress. "I have instructed the MECON to send Congress a bill to discuss in extraordinary sessions, which budgets the necessary resources to make it possible to comply with the legal mandate as provided in Article 22 of Law 23,982," Alberto Fernández announced.

Read also: Co-participation: how are the TX31 bonds with which the Government will pay CABA after the Court ruling

In this regard, he indicated that the “norm should preserve the current federal system; not affect the rights recognized to the Argentine provinces and compensate the losses that this precautionary measure causes them”.

"It is the natural place to discuss what the distribution criteria are," sources close to one of the provincial leaders who most celebrated the cut to the CABA told TN.

What they argue from the provinces is that if the distribution were "more equitable, the wealth that the regional economies could generate would be greater."

It was the provincial leaders who put the most pressure on the President not to comply with the judicial order and everything seemed to be going in that direction, until -through a Twitter thread- Alberto Fernández announced that he would pay the CABA with bonds, until the recusal of the judges of the highest Court and the request to revoke the ruling, which will be made by the Nation, which would take at least until February, is resolved.