The Government demanded that the Court suspend the effects of the co-participation ruling

The national government made a presentation today before the Supreme Court of Justice so that the court itself, but with another configuration, suspends the effects of the ruling handed down last Wednesday with which it ordered the National State to increase the co-participating mass in favor of the City of Buenos Aires (CABA), by raising it to 2.95 percent. Through two presentations that bear the signature of the Treasury Attorney, Carlos Zannini, the Government of Alberto Fernández filed a revocation to annul the precautionary measure issued on December 21 and demanded that the members of the highest court excuse themselves from intervene so that the presentation can be analyzed by judges who had not participated in the questioned decision. "Through the ruling in question here, the Supreme Court has replaced the other branches of the Federal Government, adopting a decision on merit that exceeds its constitutional powers. In the decision that is being questioned here, the High Court transgresses the republican system of government and the separation of powers", the National State maintained in one of the writings. It also stated that "the sentence affects the general interests of the Nation as a whole , depriving the National State of the necessary resources to be able to carry out essential policies that correct the structural inequalities that exist in the Argentine Provinces". Zannini's letter warned that "the discussion should focus strictly on the amount of resources (amounts, emphasized the national government. And he asserted that "the legal nature of precautionary measures has been distorted, which never constitute an end in themselves, but are inescapably preordained to the issuance of a final sentence and to the practical result that they preventively ensure." "What the Constitution imposes in cases of transfer of services is the remittance of the necessary resources to meet the expense, and not the modification of the co-participation coefficients, as the CSJN prejudged," he insisted. The presentations formalized today had been announced on Monday by President Fernández through Twitter, where he wrote: "Given a precautionary decision that violates the division of powers and lacks sufficient foundation, added the president in the series of messages published yesterday. "I am convinced that the resolution lacks the grounds required for any judicial decision and therefore is flawed, affects the legitimate rights of the Argentine provinces and breaks the equality on which federalism is based in our National Constitution," he added. "The public policies established by the PEN are applied throughout the national territory; therefore, if the Nation's resources are affected, the management of the National State in the Argentine provinces will obviously suffer and they will be harmed," he said. The precautionary measure that the Court issued last Wednesday occurred in the context of the dispute between the national and Buenos Aires governments over the cost of transferring the police in 2016.

President Alberto Fernández questioned this Tuesday at noon, when heading a new meeting of the Jurisdictional Committee of Bajos Submeridionales together with the governors of Santiago del Estero, Gerardo Zamora, of Chaco, Jorge Capitanich, and of Santa Fe, Omar Perotti, the ruling of the Supreme Court that ordered the National State to pay the government of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta 2.95% of co-participating funds. Also present at the event  the Ministers of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro, and of Public Works, Gabriel Katopodis.

In this sense, he wondered if it is "reasonable that the most opulent city in Argentina" should receive "such an amount of money", when what is being discussed in the Buenos Aires district is the possibility of expanding the subway network and in the north of The country the provision of drinking water for the most vulnerable population. "All of this that we are talking about costs 220,000 million pesos, which is the same amount that the city of Buenos Aires claims as co-participation. Putting a hand on our heart, is it reasonable that we allocate such a similar amount to the most opulent city in Argentina? How much money are we going to get from the same source where the resources come from to carry out these works?" said the president when heading a new meeting of the jurisdictional committee in Santiago del Estero. "I am very porteño, proud to be a porteño, but I am the son of a Riojano and I was always worried about this inequality. So, one of the first things that I entrusted when I took office was to give importance to the north because there are issues that we must resolve and we cannot pretend to be distracted," he said at the beginning of his speech, in which he added: "We are convinced that the federal country of which The Constitution speaks is not a declamation, but an order". When reviewing the water works that are being carried out and those that are missing in that region, the President pointed out that "they cost close to 220,000 million pesos, almost the same that the city of Buenos Aires is claiming in concept of co-participation". The hydric region of the Bajos Submeridionales - which occupies the northern part of the province of Santa Fe, the south of Chaco and the southeast of the province of Santiago del Estero - is a geographical space of approximately 5 million hectares, marked by periods of floods and droughts that generate important negative consequences on production, the environment and the social conditions of the inhabitants of the area. The national government and the provinces are advancing on a Master Plan that, with an investment of 366 million dollars allocated to 33 projects, aims to achieve intelligent water management in this hydrological region, in addition to enhancing the value of productive land. Referring to the ruling of the Supreme Court in favor of the co-participation claim made by the City of Buenos Aires, Fernández stated: "Now, with one hand on my heart and looking objectively, Is it reasonable that we allocate such an amount of money to the most opulent city where I was born and love, which will come from the same source that was planned to do these works?" "Do you know where these works come from to a large extent? ? From the co-participation part that the national State has, how do you think the national routes are built, how are the water works paid for, how do you help to build the schools, how are the Universal Assignments (AUH) and the Alimentar Card paid in the inside the country? With the co-participation quota that corresponds to the national government, "he replied. And then added:" What a crazy country I'm living in. How can they not realize that we are allocating such an amount of money to a city where they are debating whether to have more subway while in the provinces they are debating how they can have more drinking water?" "How can we live in peace with our conscience? ?", he inquired to the applause of those present and continued: "While we are debating whether the city of Buenos Aires has more vertical gardens, in the provinces they are debating primary, elemental things." Fernández recalled that, after the Court's ruling, "On Friday I said that the Supreme Court could not comply with the order and today I say the same. I say that since I do not have a budget, the sentence is not budgeted, because of the Argentine legal system I cannot pay sentences because it does not allow me to. Therefore,

In the northern provinces of the country, the head of state continued to highlight the differences that exist throughout the Argentine territory, "it is not discussed how to expand the subway network" as in the city of Buenos Aires "but who has drinking water", which speaks of the "inequality" between those areas of the country.

"I would love for the Buenos Aires head of government to come to see what the north is like," concluded the President. 

In January 2016, Macri signed decree 194 that raised from 1.4% to 3.75% the participation that corresponds to CABA for the federal tax co-participation. The text did not explain the reasons for such an increase, something that the National State raised before the Court. Later, Decree 257/2018 lowered the percentage to 3.5 and only then was it explained that the sum responded to the "Progressive Transfer Agreement to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires of powers and security functions in all non-federal matters exercised" in CABA.

In 2020, in the context of a salary conflict with the Buenos Aires province police, Alberto Fernández reduced the percentage in question to 2.3. In response, the Rodríguez Larreta government appeared before the Court against the decree of the national government and Law 27,606 that validated it in December of that year. There were conciliation hearings between the National State and the City but they all failed. In them, the City never explained how it needed 112 billion pesos for a police force with 19,000 agents, while the Federal Police receives 70,000 million for 32,000 police officers.

This Wednesday, in a ruling signed by all the members of the high court (Horacio Rosatti, Juan Carlos Maqueda, Carlos Rosenkrantz and Ricardo Lorenzetti), the National Government was ordered to pay the City of Buenos Aires 2.95% of the mass of shareable taxes.

Although it is not the percentage requested by Larreta, who claimed 3.50%, and it does not have retroactive application, the truth is that with this Wednesday's ruling the Supreme Court meddled in political and legislative decisions. He opined that Rodríguez Larreta's claim has "credibility" and "danger in the delay" and justified his decision by reviewing the history of the City to question that it still does not have financial autonomy because a federal co-participation law was never agreed upon.  ;

Last Thursday, after the ruling, the president met with 14 governors and defined that it could not be fulfilled because "the National Congress approved the 2023 Budget by law without contemplating budget credit for that purpose."

However, this Monday, President Alberto Fernández changed the strategy and announced that the national State will pay the funds claimed by CABA with TX31 bonds.

Beyond the announcement, Fernández insisted on being "convinced that the resolution lacks the grounds required for any judicial decision and is therefore flawed, affects the legitimate rights of the Argentine provinces and breaks the equality on which federalism is based in our National Constitution.

He also announced that he instructed the Treasury Attorney to file a reversal appeal "in extremis" against the decision of the Supreme Court; that he ordered the judges of the highest court to be challenged; and that it instructed the Ministry of Economy to send to Congress a bill to be dealt with in extraordinary sessions in which the necessary resources are budgeted for to make it possible to comply with the precautionary measure.

He also announced that he instructed the Treasury Attorney to file a reversal appeal "in extremis" against the decision of the Supreme Court; that he ordered the judges of the highest court to be challenged; and that it instructed the Ministry of Economy to send to Congress a bill to be dealt with in extraordinary sessions in which the necessary resources are budgeted for to make it possible to comply with the precautionary measure.