“This is an election year, so it doesn’t surprise me that the vultures come back right in the middle of the campaign,” the Buenos Aires governor complained.
By iProfessional
01/04/2023 – 19,54hs
The Buenos Aires governor and former Economy Minister Axel Kicillof defended the renationalization of the YPF oil company in 2012 and described the US ruling that questions it as “a legal absurdity.”
“The sentence is an absolute legal absurdity. Judge Loretta Preska (of the Southern District Court of New York) is the successor of Thomas Griesa in the same court. In addition to misapplying Argentine Justice, she is a violation of sovereign rights of Argentina that this is being judged in New York. That is why I say that everything has a known whiff,” said the provincial president.
The statements of the former head of the Palacio de Hacienda during the administration of Cristina Kirchner come after Argentina received a setback in the United States Justice in the process for the expropriation of the YPF oil company, since Judge Preska ruled in favor of the Burford Capital and Eton Park funds and against the national State.
Preska ruled that Argentina is responsible, but agreed to YPF’s request to dismiss the claims against it. In this way, it obliges the national State to compensate the funds, but it freed YPF from that obligation.
In this context, Kicillof argued: “In any case, it is not resolved. The amount of the sentence has not been determined, so it is all speculation, and secondly, it is going to be appealed because it is absurd. It is news of something that is incomplete and that we are going to have to keep fighting.”
“This is an election year, so no wonder the vultures are coming back right in the middle of the campaign. This reminds me a bit of 2015. There may also be other bugs that are going around. It can be an onslaught of the vulture funds always against the same political force, against the same people even. To the vultures outside are added the caracaras from inside who want to use this in favor in the campaign,” shot Kicillof.
Kicillof criticized the opposition’s reaction to the sentence
Criticizing the reaction of the opposition after the sentence was known, the Buenos Aires president stressed that “the decision to expropriate YPF was taken by the National Congress by a large majority where the radicals voted, Miguel Ángel Pichetto voted.”
“Recovering YPF is one of the political decisions more important of the last decades, is an example of what it was like to govern with courage and with love for the country,” said Kicillof.
“This is an election year, so it’s no wonder the vultures are back in right in the middle of the campaign,” Kicillof said.
He said that this measure “marked a before and after in terms of energy policy. There was a total emptying out with the privatization that took place in the ’90s, and from there YPF recovered, Vaca Muerta was launched,” he said.
Kicillof warned that “if this election is won by Macrismo, if Juntos por el Cambio wins, there is no doubt that they will privatize YPF again. This is what is at stake.”
Asked about the criticisms made by opposition leaders regarding the economic impact that the ratification of the US ruling would generate in Argentina, he replied: “They are not right. If they apply false rulings to you and outside the law, they can cause you harm. Always “There is the risk with any of these situations. What one could do is not make any decision, which is not appropriate.”
“At that moment it was decided to recover the company and control was expropriated. What the rest of the shareholders are doing now, against Argentine law, that is to say that the YPF statute is above the expropriation law. If they claim it In an Argentine court, surely no one would agree with them,” he argued.
Kicillof questioned the opposition again: “It is seen that they were very happy with Repsol and with the emptying. All those who now seem to be against having recovered YPF and are once again with the project of privatizing it are those who celebrate ‘how good that Vaca Muerta is there, and Vaca Muerta exists because YPF recovered”.
“There is a long way to go and what they have done is very arbitrary. Legal risks with any situation like this always exist. In this case, the advantage that there is, that there was and that there will be for Argentina by having recovered YPF is very clear,” he emphasized.
