The Frente de Todos is working to hold a session before the end of the month and thus “save” the extraordinary period in the Chamber of Deputies. For this, it seeks support from the “middle” blocks, which might be guarantors of a quorum in the face of the resistance that Juntos por el Cambio continues to exert.
The objective in the sights of Germán Martínez, head of the bench, is to arrive at the venue with the guaranteed number and meet with an agreed agenda, to avoid a setback like the one he suffered last December with the failure of three sessions in a row.
At the top of the priorities is the pension moratorium, which will allow 800,000 people to retire who are old enough but have not completed the years of contributions. But there are also other projects that might gather consensus, such as a program to digitize medical records and the creation of the “Laguna El Palmar” National Park in Chaco.
The pro-government bloc lacks eleven deputies for a quorum, and although it might count on four allies from the United Provinces, chaired by Luis Di Giácomo, and another four from the Left Front, it also needs support from the Federal Interbloc, led by Alejandro “Topo” Rodríguez and that it has eight members.
“If there is a firm proposal, it is appropriate to evaluate it,” Rodríguez told this outlet, who for the moment is not closing the door on an agreement.
Within the same space, Graciela Camaño is shown to be the most willing to hold a session. In socialism they point out that “there are dialogues, but nothing concrete.” And Córdoba Federal, the block that responds to Governor Juan Schiaretti, hopes that the ruling party will “freeze” the impeachment of the Supreme Court judges to focus on the rest of the agenda.
But before thinking regarding any agreement, the ruling party must guarantee the presence of its 118 deputies in Buenos Aires. The latest movements speak of the difficulties in gathering the number: last week, the bloc had to replace four deputies from the Budget and Finance Committee to be able to sign a majority opinion on the “tech monotributo” project, one of which promotes the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.
The position of Together for Change
Together for Change maintains its position of not giving a quorum in the commissions or in the venue, and sitting down to debate the issues once the Frente de Todos gets the number. This is what has been happening since the extraordinary ones began, in accordance with the mandate of the National Table of the alliance, which adopted this position in rejection of the impeachment trial once morest the Supreme Court.
How will Juntos por el Cambio act as of March 1, when the president opens the ordinary period? So far there has not been an organic decision, but different sources agreed that they will not facilitate the treatment of the official agenda either.
“We are going to collaborate when the issues that interest society are touched on, such as the rental law. It is a shame that they accuse us of a blockade when they are incapable of gathering a majority for the issues that, according to them, are those of the people,” the deputy head of the radical bloc, Karina Banfi, told this outlet, and finished: “They are not going to nor they themselves to the commissions. They are playing with the reserve”.
Another deputy agreed: “Since December we said that as long as the agenda is not minimally agreed upon, the ruling party has the responsibility of the quorum, and if they achieve it, we will go down. This worsened in January with the political trial, because it is not only not agreeing on an agenda, but also promoting a measure of institutional gravity.
At the same time, the idea of Together for Change for the ordinary period is to activate the commissions that are in their hands to promote their own agenda.
This strategy has already begun to be implemented in the Commerce Commission, led by Gabriela Lena, a radical from Entre Ríos, who held two informative meetings this month: the first with the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC) and other business and union institutions; and a second with the secretary of the area, Matías Tombolini.