Tuesday December 27, 2022 | 5:00 a.m.
President Alberto Fernández announced yesterday that he will pay the co-participating funds to the city of Buenos Aires with Treasury bonds that arise from the precautionary measure issued by the Supreme Court of Justice, at the same time that he ratified that he will present a request to revoke the resolution and will challenge the members of the high court.
The Head of State instructed the Chief of Staff to “reallocate the only resources available for the year 2022 and transfer them to a Banco Nación account in the name of the GCBA” and anticipated that “TX31 bonds will be used and made available to the compliance with the precautionary measure that we are challenging.”
“This transfer -said Fernández- will include, in bonds, the money corresponding to 90 days of validity of the precautionary measure, pending the final ruling, or a law of Congress that assigns the pertinent budgetary resources to this payment.”
On this point, it indicated that the consigned bonds “have already been accepted by the Court to meet the debt of the national State with the province of Santa Fe” and added that, “being so, there would be no injury to the right granted to the Caba, unless that the court believes that there are first class cities and second class provinces”.
The decision to abide by the ruling, which validates in fact an increase in co-participating funds for the City of Buenos Aires, was communicated by the president yesterday through the social network Twitter.
“I am convinced that the resolution lacks the foundations required of 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”, began writing the head of state.
The Supreme Court ordered last Wednesday that the national government pay the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Caba) 2.95% of the mass of co-participating taxes, within the framework of the dispute between both administrations over the cost of the transfer in 2016 of the Federal Police.
Although it is a decision on a precautionary measure requested by the head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and not a decision on the substantive issue, the ruling was signed by the four members of the court and with the directive that the payments were made “formally and automatically.”
In this sense, Fernández revealed yesterday that, despite the fact that this measure “violates the division of powers and lacks sufficient foundation”, the government will comply with the provisions and, for this, “TX31 bonds will be used.”
The Nation-City conflict arose when, shortly after starting his administration in 2016, President Mauricio Macri raised the Buenos Aires participation in co-participating taxes from 1.40 to 3.75 percent.
This increase, considered unfair by the national government and most of the provinces, was deactivated in September 2020, when Fernández established that 2.32 percent corresponded to Caba.
Against that decision, he appealed to the Rodríguez Larreta Court, since it is the highest court that intervenes in trials between the Nation and the provinces.
Thus began a process in which the parties were summoned to resolve their differences and put the percentage voluntarily, but the mediation attempt failed.
Recusal of judges
Yesterday, President Alberto Fernández revealed that he instructed the Treasury Attorney to “submit an appeal for reversal ‘in extremis’ against the judicial decision taken, in order to review the precautionary measure ordered.”
“In addition, I have ordered the recusal of the judges of the highest court because, having established a position on the substantive issue when issuing the precautionary measure, they have prejudged the National State, damaging their accounts and affecting the resources of the 23 Argentine provinces,” he added. Fernández to paragraph followed.
From the opposition, the presidential candidate and former minister of Cambiemos and the Alliance, Patricia Bullrich, celebrated that “the government could not break the rule of law in Argentina” and promised to “suspend” an alleged complaint for “sedition” that she said she would present yesterday against the President.
Despite Bullrich’s promise, yesterday he filed a complaint for “disobedience” to national administration officials, which will be investigated by Judge Daniel Rafecas and prosecutor Ramiro González, according to judicial sources confirmed to Télam (see separate).
The president warned yesterday that he should “respect the laws in force”, but remarked: “Article 22 of Law 23,982 indicates that payments ordered to the National State by court order must be provided for in the Budget Law.”
At this point, the president explained that “neither the 2022 nor the 2023 Budget, voted by a large majority, provides for these payments.”
At the same time, the president reported that he had instructed the Ministry of Economy to send a bill to the National Congress – to be dealt with in “extraordinary sessions” – that “provides budgetary resources necessary to make it possible to comply with the legal mandate as provided by law 23,982 in its article 22”.
“This norm must preserve the current federal system; not affect the rights recognized to the Argentine provinces and compensate the losses that this precautionary measure causes them”, the head of state concluded.
Zaffaroni: “The Court coerces the president to commit a crime”
Larreta: “The rulings are fulfilled, they are not interpreted”
