From calm to storm: Fernández’s last message to the Argentine Congress

In his last speech before the National Congress, the Argentine president highlighted the economic recovery and insisted on the request for impeachment of the members of the Supreme Court.

With the race for the October presidential elections underway, the president’s speech leaves the door open to his candidacy for reelection.

Alberto Fernández opened the 141st ordinary session of Congress with a speech marked by the dismissal of his performance at the head of the Casa Rosada.

Forty years after the recovery of democracy after the last military dictatorship (1976-1983), the President emphasized the institutional need for the impeachment of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN).

BETWEEN GROWTH AND INFLATION

Faced with a challenging 2023 due to the many economic obstacles the government will have to overcome, the President highlighted the favorable evolution of the macroeconomy after the coronavirus pandemic.

“We returned to growth in 2022, with an increase of 5.4%. We are one of the countries that grew the most in the last two years”, he highlighted.

The president was optimistic about his last year in office after his inauguration in 2019.

“Predictions indicate that in 2023 we will grow again. We will be one of the fastest growing countries in the world: three years of consecutive growth has not happened since 2008”, he added.

“We have laid the foundations to build the great country we want. There is no solution to anything if the economy does not grow”, said Fernández.

For the specialists, the backbone of the presidential presentation was the defense of the achievements.

“Here there is a discursive line whose motto is ‘the management is better than what the people perceive, and it must be vindicated’. It seems the government is looking for spokespersons to say that the administration is good,” Julio Burdman, political analyst, told Sputnik.

According to the researcher, the emphasis on the level of economic activity is the product of a strategic decision.

“The discourse shows that they chose growth as the unit of measurement of success in managing the economy”.

In the face of an inflationary acceleration that threatens to exceed 100% year-on-year, the approach to the issue requires surgical sensitivity.

Fernandez remarked, “inflation is a structural problem in Argentina that goes back decades. We are committed to reducing it, but it is not an easy task”.

The President threw a dart at the opposition of Juntos por el Cambio, which governed, under the leadership of Mauricio Macri, between 2015 and 2019, during which inflation went from 25% to 53%.

“Let’s not forget that those who minimized the problem ended up deepening it”, said the President.

The president expressed the importance of putting public accounts in order within the framework of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for refinancing the debt contracted during Macri’s administration.

“Neither the Minister of Economy nor I need the IMF to know that we must achieve fiscal balance”, he pointed out.

According to Burdman, this point crystallizes the primary mission of the Frente de Todos government.

“It seems that this reaffirms the idea that the government came to lower public spending. The consensus of reducing the deficit was always present in the former Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, and in the current one, Sergio Massa”, warns the political scientist.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF THE COURT, THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE DAY’S PROCEEDINGS

The section that generated the most commotion in the legislative assembly was the one related to the criticism of the national Justice within the framework of the request for the impeachment of the highest court members.

“The Judicial Power has not had public confidence for a long time. Clearly, it does not work efficiently”, fired Fernandez.

“The demand for justice becomes valid once again when the law is twisted by hatred and political persecution”, he said.

The force the topic gained in the presidential speech even upset communication specialists.

“The fragment about the Court caught my attention because he mentioned it many times. He blamed the judges saying that they violated the co-participation law: in other words, he defended his position to initiate the impeachment”, considers Burdman.

The criticism to the High Court orbited around the precautionary measure for the federal co-participation of taxes, which increased from 1.4% to 2.95% the portion of the funds transferred by the State to the City of Buenos Aires, governed by Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, pre-candidate for president of the opposition alliance Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change).

Fernandez did not appeal to euphemisms.

“The Court takes money from those who need it most and allocates those same resources to the most wealthy City in the country. They assured the City amounts that do not correspond to it, contrary to the law in force”.

“The interference of Justice in the execution of the budget is inadmissible”, highlighted the President.

Although the criticisms take place a few months after the judicial conviction of Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, according to Burdman, they do not represent a direct gesture towards the former President (2007-2015).

“I am not sure that this constitutes a rapprochement between Alberto and Cristina because they have always had a similar discourse regarding justice. Fernández wants the impeachment of the Court to be a flag of her own”, considers the political scientist.

“I don’t know if Alberto is doing this at Cristina’s request. The initiative may have been the president’s own,” warns Burdman.

DARTS TO THE OPPOSITION

Regardless of the bill’s origin for the magistrates’ removal, the President responded to the criticism from the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio, which denounced an attack against the institutions.

“There is no attack or onslaught against Justice. Fortunately, there are no longer operators who buy judicial wills on behalf of the Government”, highlighted the President.

The intensification of the tension with the opposition, months before the presidential elections in which the ruling party put its continuity in power at stake, was crystallized in the reproach to the cases of illegal espionage during Macri’s government.

Fernández put it simply.

“We are not the ones who attempted against the Constitution; those who attempted were the ones who set up judicial tables that persecuted journalists, judges, opponents, and even their colleagues”.

In light of the President’s forceful statements, the possibility of dialogue between the Frente de Todos and Juntos por el Cambio seems to be ruled out.

According to Burdman, “the Congress is the scene of the rupture between the ruling party and the opposition. The precinct is paralyzed, and there seems to be no margin for any kind of negotiation”.

ELECTIONS AS A GOAL

With months to go before the presidential elections of October 22, the sentencing of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to six years of imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from holding public office acquires a caliber of the first magnitude.

“The liberal criminal law, born under the protection of the French Revolution, would be repulsed by such conclusions”, said the President.

“The demand for justice becomes valid once again when the law is twisted by hatred and political persecution,” said Fernandez.

According to Budman, “there is an absolute dependence of the Frente de Todos on Cristina. Whether she is a candidate or not, the support she shows will be crucial: every day that passes confirms the ‘Cristinodependence'”.

Within the menu the ruling party will present to voters, one of the candidates to head the ticket is the President, who has repeatedly conveyed his plan.

“Alberto expressed his intention to be reelected, but he did it indirectly. The analyst says that “being a few months away from closing lists, his desire should be more explicit”.

If the uncertainty about the president’s potential candidacy for re-election could have been cleared with a conclusive message at the opening of the sessions, the lack of news during the presidential address is, according to Burdman, proof of indecision.

“That he has passed this speech without having said something clearer means that he still does not have a concrete definition”, warns the analyst.

With information from Sputnik