Concern for the unstoppable rise of the blue dollar and its effects on the economy reached Together for Change. The prospect of eventually reaching the government and the risk that the crisis will benefit Javier Milei accelerated the contacts between referents of the alliance for approach positions on an economic plan and tone down the infighting.
The meeting held this Tuesday by the presidents of the parties Gerardo Morales (UCR), Federico Angelini (PRO), Maximilian Ferraro (Civic Coalition) and Miguel Angel Pichetto (Federal Republican Meeting) had been convened with an eye on the need to begin ordering the strategy for the elections.
However, the rise in the dollar that began on April 18 changed the meaning of the meeting. During those days, a certain caution was noted in the public statements of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Patricia Bullrich and Moralesleading contenders for the presidency. “The picture of the situation began to worry”slipped a source of the space to iProfessional.
That concern was recorded in the meeting of the party chiefs that took place in the offices of the Civic Coalition, near the Congress, while the currency touched $490 in the informal market. “We do not see that the Government has a patch this time,” one of the attendees told this outlet.
Based on this analysis, the coalition announced its decision to convene the economic teams of Together for Change on May 2, that is, to those who advise the presidential candidates, to “analyze the economic and social situation in the country.” However, the goal is to start look for common ground for what may come.
Together for Change, on alert for the economy and the dollar:
The opposition alliance revealed on several occasions conflicting economic visions. While Larreta usually points out, for example, that you cannot get out of the exchange stocks from one day to the next, Bullrich has stated several times that he can and that this is his plan.
The opposition will gather its economic teams to agree on the basic points of its plan in the middle of the internal
The delicate economic situation and the currency crisis forces Juntos por el Cambio to try to agree on the broad outline of a program not only for electoral communication but also in the event of reaching the Government again with an inheritance that already worries them. The idea is that there may be nuances but avoid conflicting recipes.
Morales anticipated something of this at the end of the meeting, noting that “in some measures there will be shock, in others gradualism.” And it is that to reach a consensus on the plan, the economic teams will need to find a middle path between the often conflicting positions.
With the upcoming economic discussion in sight, Together for Change also announced that it will request meetings with key sectors of the economy such as the Industrial Union (UIA), the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME) and the CGTamong others.
Claim and reproach to the Government: what do they evaluate in the opposition?
In the meeting between Morales, Angelini (who was by videoconference because his flight was suspended), Pichetto and Ferraro there was a preliminary assessment of the situation. One of the points they touched on was the possibility that the ruling party will once again try to open a dialogue with the opposition as happened in July 2022 after the resignation of Martín Guzmán, when there was an exchange rate tension equal to that of now.
Faced with this hypothesis, in Together for Change they decided hold the same position as at that time: that “the only area for dialogue can be Congress,” according to one of the sources consulted.
In addition, after considering that the Government has no margin to “patch up” the situation, they agreed that the opposition should be attentive to “the movements of the ‘plan to arrive'”as they call the management of the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, who today they see “in difficulties”.
The leaders of Together for Change seek to give new signs of unity in the face of the delicate situation of the Government
The referents of the opposition alliance consider that Massa “does not know which button to press because he didn’t touch the buttons he had to push when he took officeThis is what now urges the referents of the alliance to seek common ground for an economic program in the midst of their own internal electoral process.
The other objective, complementary to that one, is defuse the infighting that has flared up after Larreta’s decision to split the vote for Buenos Aires head of government with respect to the presidential one, strongly criticized by Bullrich and former president Mauricio Macri.
The idea now is to give a sign of unity outwards with a “family photo” at the next meeting of the national board of Together for Change. “There will continue to be differences but we have to resolve them internally and take care of unity”slipped one of the sources consulted by iProfessional.
Signs of unity in full electoral internal
The gestures of unity that Juntos por el Cambio seeks to reinforce have to do, in part, with the growth shown by Milei in the polls and with the risk that, mounted on the exchange rate and inflationary crisis to which it responds with the “dollarization” proposal, it could surprise in the elections.
On the other hand, it also has to do with the criticism that the government began to dedicate to them in the framework of the escalation of the dollar and that led several leaders of the opposition alliance to set aside the prudence of last week to go to the crossroads.
“Take charge, Massa! Try to govern and take fundamental measures, stop putting more Cámpora in the government and issue currency. The little advantage is over“, launched Bullrich after the minister and President Alberto Fernández spoke of “rumors” and “the right” as responsible for the exchange agitation.
The escalation of the dollar began to generate concern in the alliance at the prospect of returning to the Government
The head of the block of deputies of the UCR, Mario NegriHe maintained that “the government is an open-air operating room” where “operations are carried out between the different sides – they invent rumors and reinforce instability – but they accuse the ‘right'” and added: “They are lucky that JxC is the opposition and does not push”.
Among the opponents who came out to respond to the Government was also Mary Eugenia Vidalwho pointed out that “Alberto Fernández, Cristina Kirchner and Sergio Massa have governed for more than 3 years” and remarked: “The dollar at $490 and this fire is your government“.
