MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Opposition not happy with President Fernández paying CABA with bonds

“The TX31 bond with which Alberto Fernández wants to pay CABA is a payment that is not quoted in the market and is not negotiated,” UCR Deputy Mario Negri pointed out

After Argentine President Alberto Fernández announced Monday that the federal government would abide by last week's Supreme Court (CSJN) ruling and pay the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) its share of the so-called co-participation funds but not with pesos, Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta's administration filed a complaint before the Supreme Court.

 “The Executive continues not respecting the institutions,” the CABA authorities argued following Fernández's explanations that bonds would be used, and instructed the City Attorney's Office to take “the necessary” steps for money to be transferred daily not “replaced discretionally by another form of financing.”

Fernández had announced TX31 bonds would be “made available for compliance with the precautionary measure that we are challenging” while insisting the same bonds had been approved by the CSJN in a case with the Province of Santa Fe. “This being so, there would be no injury to the right granted to the CABA, unless the court believes that there are first-class cities and second-class provinces,” the President claimed.

“Sentences are not discussed, they are complied with and the Court ordered the restitution of the funds. But as always the President does everything in halves. Paying with a 90-day bond is to continue harming the people,” Buenos Aires City Government Minister Jorge Macri said on social media.

Meanwhile, sources of the Civic Coalition -a minor partner in the opposition Together for Change (JxC) coalition- quoted by TN said they would not withdraw the criminal complaint filed against Fernández. “The crime of insurrection is established because they made legal excuses for not complying with the ruling,” the sources were quoted as saying.

“Those actions must be criminally investigated,” they added while stressing that Fernández had been looking for ways to circumvent the court's ruling since it was passed.

“Pay as ordered by the Supreme Court, not with bonds. Stop cheating,” Deputy María Eugenia Vidal of the PRO party wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, Senator Alfredo Cornejo of the Radical Civil Union (UCR) -together with PRO the other major partner in the JxC alliance, complained that Fernández would give bonds to the city of Buenos Aires which is ruled by the opposition and fully discretionary use of funds of Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof because he is a political ally.

“The TX31 bond with which Alberto Fernández wants to pay CABA is a payment that is not quoted in the market and is not negotiated,” UCR Deputy Mario Negri pointed out. He added that the UCR was monitoring “how everything evolves” before filing a formal impeachment request to Congress against Fernández.

“The block had the impeachment request signed by the 33 deputies, taking as a basis that the Government had said that it would not abide by the Supreme Court ruling. But the President's announcement changed the facts, so now the bloc is analyzing how everything evolves. The intention is to put the impeachment request on hold for a few days, but under no circumstances will it be shelved.”

Libertarian Deputy José Luis Espert did file an impeachment request “against the President of the Nation for bad performance and for the commission of possible crimes in the exercise of his functions.”

“The actions of Alberto Fernandez in the exercise of the Presidency of the Nation with his contempt of the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice attack the republican system established by the Constitution. What he is ultimately doing is using the very power of the State to attack the republican system, since he is using his position of power allied with a group of governors who support his government to defy the power of the Supreme Court of Justice”, the initiative states.

(Read also: https://en.mercopress.com/2022/12/26/argentine-gov-t-now-says-it-will-pay-city-of-buenos-aires-s-tax-share )