“Don’t expect anything from the State, for now, because there is no money but there will be some.” The words were spoken this afternoon by the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos before Governor Rogelio Frigerio (Entre Ríos), Maximiliano Pullaro (Santa Fe) and Martín Llaryora (Córdoba) who met within the scope of the Center Region which brings together the three provinces of the country to define support for the May Pact and the reformulated Base Law.
“Don’t expect anything from the State. For now there is no moneybut there will already be because we are stabilizing the macro economic situation and we are convinced that starting in the second half of the year the economy, with stability, will rebound and we will be able to start talking about other types of things that we are talking about currently,” stated Javier Milei’s envoy to the meeting.
The short speech given by the Minister of the Interior had started tense. “You don’t know what it’s like to deal with these people as Minister of the Interior without money; I suffer a lot because I would like the Nation to be able to accompany the claims of the provinces and the different sectors, but reality is reality,” he stated before the uncomfortable gaze of the three governors.
Before going on stage, Francos spoke privately with the three governors. He was in a reserved room of the “La Redonda” cultural complex, located on Bulevar Gálvez, in the heart of Santa Fe. The activities of the Central Region were closed there.
The talk lasted about 15 minutes, official sources confirmed to Infobae. The only eyewitnesses of the meeting were the vice president of Santa Fe, Gisela Scaglia, and the ministers of Government, Fabián Bastía, and of Public Works, Lisandro Enrico, both from Pullaro’s cabinet.
The leaders presented “strongly”, the sources indicated, to Francos the need to restart the flow of funds from Anses to the provincial pension funds and to reactivate priority public works.
The Minister said he understood the situation. And he committed to working on those axes. The promise is that, once the Base Law and the May Pact are approved, resources will be unlocked to the provinces.
In particular, the sources consulted by this medium highlighted that the Governors made it clear that the brake on pension funds is something “unsustainable over time.” Currently, the national administration has put a stoppage while it audits the items. Finally, they indicated that the leaders left the private meeting “with optimism,” although later in public they had to temper their spirit to hear Francos repeat the libertarian chant: “There is no money.”
The meeting between the three leaders occurred in a split manner, in the cities of Paraná and Santa Fe, where Frigerio (PRO) handed over the presidency to Pullaro (UCR). pro tempore of the regional bloc. “Our support for the bill and the May Pact like the one proposed by the President is out of conviction, not out of interest. We are going to support because we are convinced. If we were not, we would not accompany,” Frigerio stated during the press conference.
For his part, Llaryora (Peronism) confirmed that “we agree with the May Pact because most of the issues They are part of our government plan“, and also highlighted that the project of the Bases Law, which the Executive forwarded to Congress, arrives “sifted”. Meanwhile, Governor Pullaro maintained that “the challenge of the Central Region is lead a political agenda at the national level on these axes,” he pointed out.
The three governors marked, however, some points on which they must work with the Government. Among them were the contributions to retirement funds that were not transferred to Anses, which were reduced to zero in the last four months. Furthermore, they focused on the transportation subsidies and the approach of a productive project that accompanies the zero deficit program that strictly supports the administration of Javier Milei and that they will negotiate in the afternoon with the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos.
It is worth remembering that the Central Region, where the provinces of Santa Fe and Córdoba originally formed the block and then Entre Ríos joined in 1998, is a conglomerate with significant political weight. In Congress he places on the table 46 of 257 deputies and 9 of 72 senators. Furthermore, it constitutes the productive heart of the country and an industrial block of relevance in the national product. And it represents 25% of GDP% and 38% of total exports.
These leaders, coming from diverse political spectrumscame together at a key moment, just when conversations about the Omnibus Law and the dispute over the distribution of national funds are gaining greater intensity.
The meeting represented a coordinated strategy to support the legislative tool that the government demands and express its willingness to participate in the May Pact. The latter is a call made by Milei with the aim of agree on ten essential state policies together with leaders from all over the country, as well as prominent actors from the Argentine social and economic sphere.
“It was conceived as a platform for the development of the three provinces, understanding integration as the tool that multiplies the potential of each one separately opening new horizons”, reflects the vision behind the creation of the Central Region, as indicated in an official statement.
Flagbearers like him “heart of the country’s agri-food production”, these three provinces together lead the production of a large part of the food and commodities that Argentina exports to more than 100 countries. The region stands out not only for its contribution to the country’s Gross Product, but also for being a hub of innovation and development in key sectors such as industry and agribusiness.
“The Government now brings a sifted program, with central points agreed with the vision that we have. And the same thing happens with the May Pact. When you see the points, we agree on most of the issues because they are part of our government plan,” stated Llaryora. Within these coincidences, he put on the table that Córdoba has a fiscal surplus.
The Cordoba president confessed that in the conversations prior to the new text, the reinstatement of the fourth category of the income tax, which taxes the highest remuneration salaries, was a topic of discussion. “At one point it was 600, 700 thousand pesos (the new contribution floor). And we are convinced that it has to be for high incomes and get workers out of the way,” he said.
Another item that will merit discussions will be the contribution of the ANSES to address the deficits of the retirement funds that were not transferred to the Nation in the ’90s. “We are receiving zero weight. And it is something totally discretionary, because the ANSES is funded with taxes. “He is collecting the money that he should send us and he is not doing it,” said Llaryora. “We have decided to have a containment policy. We do not transfer the adjustment. We pay pensions even though we receive zero,” she said.
Frigerio stated that the pension situation “is extremely unfair” and confirmed that the provinces have not received “a peso” in the last four months, clarifying that in the previous administration the contributions were partial and did not cover the deficit of the funds. .
“Regardless of our support out of conviction for these instruments that the President is requesting, we will continue fighting for these and other things,” Frigerio summarized.
Pullaro, meanwhile, pointed out that Argentina’s opportunity to move forward does not only pass through adjustment and the financial sector but “through the generation of employment and growth.”
