More than 70 days took the comings and goings between the ruling party and the opposition in Montevideo before putting aside the differences and requesting an extension from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), already against the ropes before the deadlines established by the agreement signed in November of last year. Six days before the expiration of the time granted to vote on the US$70 million loan, the political parties sat down at a table and reached an agreement.
“We understand that our political system has had a differential in the world, which is to transcend differences and the short term and reach agreements for the construction of large works,” said Mayor Carolina Cosse at a press conference. The hierarch of the Broad Front called for “a strong sense of generosity” in the system so that the political forces that have hitherto been entangled can “raise their sights.”
“We have the option that the votes are not reached or we ask for an extension”sentenced Cosse at the end of the half-hour meeting in which whites, colorados and front-runners sat at the same table in the Agreements Room of the Montevideo City Hall (IM).
“There is a will to agree everywhere,” declared the president of the nationalist Departmental, Laura Raffo, at a press conference, who has been one of the most intransigent on the part of the opposition in not granting the special majority to the commune according to the terms that it established. “If we put ourselves in a position that there are good and bad, those who lose are the neighbors”pointed out the economist.
“I think that the first commitment today was not to look back, but forward,” said Graciela Villar, the new president of the Department of the Front, Graciela Villar. “We can say that the process began in August and that someone was distracted. But this is not the time to do it,” said the former vice-presidential candidate. “Today is the time when we are about to expire the date established by the IDB”he emphasized.
Specifically, after accusing each other of blowing up the bridges, ruling party and opposition put on hold their claims regarding the project and agreed to form a working group to prepare the request to be submitted to the IDB. Cosse stressed that said proposal must be “serious” to safeguard the “prestige” earned by the departmental government before the international entity.
The writing will begin this Saturday at 9 in the morning at the Departmental Board, with delegates from all the parties involved. The text to be prepared must be ratified by the councilors next Tuesday, so that the IM can send the request to the IDB. From the body they had warned the opposition that an extension to the negotiation was possible. Although it is not yet defined, they expect to request between 60 and 90 days of term.
“If after the extension it comes out no, then we have to start all over again,” said the mayor. “That is why it is important to protect this work. We are not going to make public statements while we are participating in this work team, ”said the hierarch.
In this short term opposition and ruling party will have to put cold cloths to their discrepancies. Once the IDB grants the extension, the negotiations will begin, where there are two divided positions. While the whites and reds ask that the core of US$70 million already approved by the IDB in November be reviewed, the IM affirms its willingness to discuss funds outside that amount, although without calling these components into question..
“If I have to open the loan, it’s the same as being told no. Why would we want an extension?”, he had said to The Observer the director of Environmental Development of the commune, Guillermo Moncecchi, before agreeing on the new work table.
From the opposition they especially question the majority component of the credit, which would have more than US$ 40 million destined for investments in cleaning and waste collection. Whites and reds attack the items planned for rapidly expendable goods such as containers and trucks, although they welcome interventions in infrastructure, such as ecocenters or classification plants.
The IM had proposed as a last proposal to add US$ 12 million to the counterpart of US$ 12 million that the commune must already contribute to the IDB funds and that were foreseen in the signed agreement. With these extra amounts, the Cosse administration suggested agreeing to the whites’ request to include more neighborhoods in the sanitation works to be carried out. The IM’s commitment prioritizes cleaning actions and leaves less for sanitation.
