In the midst of the debate of the Bases Law in the Senate, Pope Francis received trade unionists this Wednesday and took a photo with the Aerolíneas Argentinas flag. The images became known shortly after the Government announced that it agreed to remove the airline from the privatization package.
In his presentation in Congress, shortly before noon, the libertarian senator Bartolomé Abdala announced the changes that the Government had accepted, among them the elimination of the privatizations of Aerolíneas Argentinas, Correo Argentino and the public media.
And it was after 1 in the afternoon when the Argentine Association of Aeronauts released images of Francisco posing in the Vatican with Juan Pablo Brey, Verónica Espósito, Horacio Calculli; secretary general, deputy and security respectively.
The union members, who had in their hands a flag of the group and another of Airlines, gave him a letter that highlighted the importance of the airline as a tool of the State.
During the meeting, they detailed, “they were able to show their concern about the difficult economic situation that the country and the aeronautical industry are going through.”
“They expressed the importance of the role of Aerolíneas Argentinas and its preservation, maintaining that it not only represents a symbol of national pride, but also plays a crucial role in the connectivity and economic development of the country,” they added.
They also said that “they vindicated the role of the State and given the intention of the National Government to want to privatize our flag airline, they warned of the negative consequences that it could have for Argentina, especially for the most remote and less developed regions.”
The unionists conveyed to the Pope that “the company is essential to guarantee that all regions of the country are connected, in addition to highlighting its key role in organ donation and in the transportation of vaccines during the pandemic.”
“They emphasized the importance of integrating regional economies that would otherwise be underserved by a commercial-only airline system,” the message concluded.
Finally, they maintained that the existence of the flag airline “is not only justified for economic reasons, but also for its social function and its contribution to the well-being of all Argentines.”
Airlines, a last minute change
To avoid a brutal scrapping of the Base Law and the fiscal package, the Government gave in to pressure from the opposition in the Senate and accepted core changes that mark a harsh setback for the policy of Javier Milei’s government. Among the modifications, it was decided to remove Aerolíneas Argentinas from the privatization plan and completely eliminate the pension chapter, thus going backwards with the lifting of the moratorium.
In defending the majority ruling, Bartolomé Abdala (La Libertad Avanza – San Luis) announced six modifications that are a clear gesture to the dialogueists who are in doubt. The first change had to do with article 3 referring to delegated powers and it is specified that the Government will not be able to order the dissolution of organizations linked to culture, a point that had been demanded by different sectors of the opposition.
The most important fact is the elimination of Aerolíneas Argentinas from Annex I of Article 7, which promotes the privatization of state companies. Along with the flag airline, Correo Argentino and the public media were also lowered. All this was claimed by the Radical Civic Union bloc and also by the senator from Chubut, Edith Terenzi, who responds to Governor Ignacio López.
Nevertheless, The Government did not have the votes to support this chapter as it was written and one solution that the dialogueists had proposed was to separate the companies to vote on each privatization, a scheme that was rejected by the Casa Rosada negotiators.
