BERLIN.– In a message to critics of Kirchnerism, President Alberto Fernandez warned that if an official refuses to sign the new tariff scheme proposed by the Casa Rosada “is not going to be able to continue in government.”
The presidential warning, which resounded in closed-door meetings as soon as the plane that brought him from Madrid to Berlin landed, points to the officials who respond to the sector identified with Vice President Cristina Kirchner, who must intervene in the approval of the increase promoted by the Government .
“It was a political decision and if someone cannot take it, they will not be able to continue in the Government”expressed the President, as reconstructed in the entourage that accompanies him on tour of Europe.
The Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman, needs the auditors in the regulatory entities to sign the new rate charts that will come into effect from next month. This is the case of Federico Bernalcomptroller of the National Gas Regulatory Entity (Enargas), and of Soledad Maninhead of the ENRE, who answers to the former comptroller and current Undersecretary of Electric Power, Federico Basaldo, who questioned the segmentation policy imagined by Guzmán. Basualdo indicated that the increase “does not contemplate the principle of gradualness”that users will suffer a “strong impact on your June bills” and that “attempts against the process of economic growth that has been taking place”.
The increase in gas and electricity rates goes through three public hearings from yesterday until tomorrow. The first dealt with the rate increases proposed by the Ministry of Economy. Tomorrow, Martín Guzmán is expected to explain the segmentation devised by the Ministry of Economy so that the increases fall on the sectors with the greatest resources.
The rate increase for energy services is one of the central points of the economic program negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Guzmán promised to lower the fiscal deficit from 3.1% of GDP to 2.5%. To achieve this, it needs to reduce energy subsidies. The context worsened because the war in Ukraine increased gas prices and generated an increase in subsidies provided by the Government to contain rates.
According to the official proposals, the users of public services will be divided into three segments: those who receive a social tariff, the 10% of society with the greatest ability to pay” and the remaining 70% that do not belong to either of the two previous groups. .
For those who receive a social rate, gas users will not have any additional increase to the 20% that occurred in March, while electricity consumers in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA) will be increased by 6%.
As for 70% of the middle segment, the increase will be 21.5% for gas consumers and 17% for electricity consumers. The 10% with the greatest ability to pay will receive an increase of more than 200%.
In recent days, the President recalled that the ruling party, including legislators who respond to the Front of All, voted a law that gave a framework to Guzmán’s proposal. And, therefore, it would be a contradiction to oppose it now in the regulatory entities. In Berlin, Fernández also considered that the next inflation rate will be lower than the previous one, and that June will be lower than May. In addition, he celebrated latest salary increases around 60%. “The more the salary recovers, the better,” said the President on German soil.
Federico Bernal is a biochemist and biotechnologist from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), who has worked in the ranks of Kirchnerism for years and never left the militancy. He advised the vice president on her passage through the Senate, but before that he worked with the former Minister of Planning, Julio De Vido, with whom he wrote a book. His name is Néstor and Cristina Kirchner: planning and federalism in action, and the cover is illustrated with two penguins embracing.
Soledad Manín replaced Basualdo as controller at the ENRE, after Basualdo was appointed Undersecretary of Electric Power in December 2020. She is a lawyer, researcher and professor at the University of Buenos Aires, specializing in Administrative Law and Consumer and User Law. . She previously worked as the Coordinator for the Protection of Users and Users and Citizen Participation of the current management of the ENRE. She previously worked in the Public Services, Users and Consumers Area of the National Ombudsman’s Office.