The economist Danilo Astori spoke with his colleague Javier de Haedo in the Nominal podcast of the Observatory of the Economic Situation of the Catholic University (UCU).
There, the former Minister of Economy and Finance (2005-2008; 2015-2020) reviewed his career as a teacher, his passion for music, his relationship with Wilson Ferreira Aldunate and Líber Seregni, and took stock of national politics.
Also, in a part of the talk published last week, Astori was asked about whether there were parallel economic teams during the administration of José Mujica, when he was Vice President of the Republic.
“I don’t think it has reached the level of two economic teams, but I do think we had differences that hindered our work. I was vice president, however I want you to know that I continued working in the economic team. (…) There we find difficulties, contradictions. The tax issue was fundamental, a lot was spent and it was spent poorly”, Astori acknowledged.
“That was one of the points of difference and discrepancies that we had. And on the fiscal issue, I must say that some public companies took spending to unsustainable levels, and left a situation that the country had a hard time recovering, and that was reflected in the third government of the Broad Front with the fiscal results we had.” added.
Goalkeeper or goalscorer? Architect or firefighter? De Haedo asked him in another part of the talk.
“The truth is that I could not answer you, but I attach great importance to what we managed to avoid, which is often not seen, not calculatedIt is not appreciated enough. I tried to do both, play forward and be a goalkeeper. I tried to balance what I could do with what I could avoid. We must not forget what is avoided, which many times, not always, but many times, is more important than what is done”, he stated.
In another fragment of the interview, Astori pointed out that the Broad Front “It has to start by modernizing itself ideologically,” and it must also do so in its political organization, “so that it can be true to articulate diversity with unity,” he said.
“Respect the different opinions that exist in the Front, not pass them over, but have an organization that respects the different opinions and takes them into account. To achieve that we have a long way to go, ”he said. The full talk can be heard at the following link.
