Coalition accelerates Accountability discussion with nuances on increased spending

The margin is just over five weeks. The bill must enter the Parliament at most the June 30th, and although the government recognizes the “peak to peak” conversations, they also assure that these days the “roundabouts” will begin, that is, the dialogues between the multicolors so that each one sets priorities and marks their emphasis. The expectation is that even without having the final text, the main guidelines will be outlined, at the latest, in the first week of June.

Having gone through the worst of the pandemic and with the health emergency on the pile of repealed decrees, there is a certain consensus in the government parties that this year there will be a little more space to extend some expenses, but in the coalition there are nuances about what so wide should be that budget extension. While some insist on “moderate”, others trust that there will be a “reasonable margin” and some more daring even say that “there should be no doubt” in spending increases.

The debate repeats, almost inadvertently, the tone of the last few days where public spending was in the spotlight after the government’s announcements for vulnerable sectors, with criticism from the opposition for being “insufficient” and warning lights also within the government itself. officialism. During the marathon session of the questioning of the Minister of Economy and Finance, the deputy lobbyist Álvaro Perrone admitted that in his party they expected more from the decisions of the Executive Branch, despite the fact that the government indicated that they were “the best” measures that could be taken. propose at this time.

That dialectic between the conformity of spending and the firmness in increasing it will return –and will deepen, some estimate– with the Rendering of Accounts. While the white deputy Sebastián Andújar, one of those responsible for the back and forth in the discussion of the National Party, assured that the tone of the government should be to not generate more debtin the community led by Guido Manini Ríos believe that it should not be observed “with so much concern” the fiscal deficit.

In dialogue with The ObserverAndújar indicated that “there are not too many resources to reorganize” and that the “expressions of desire”, alluding to the ambition of the increases, cannot be taken into account if later they cannot be sustained financially: in this sense, he said that there are to be aware that the fiscal margin is limited and stressed, in turn, that the coalition cannot deviate from its vocation to reduce the deficit because that was also an electoral commitment.

The economic team has not given too many signs yet, but in its first public expressions it has handled some reluctance to the idea of ​​increasing spending in the face of Accountability, although everyone knows –both legislators and members of the Executive Branch– that the The matter is just beginning and it is far from settled. The director of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Marcela Bensión, assured in an interview with El País that “the fiscal numbers are what they are” and that only “eventually” there may be “some very marginal deviation”although “without a doubt” there is no more money to distribute than has already been distributed.

But while several acknowledge that they will have to wait for the MEF numbers that, they say, have the entire economic board on the table, Bensión’s position finds gradations within the ruling party and some even stand on a quite different path internally. In dialogue with The ObserverDeputy Perrone of Cabildo Abierto said that for several leaders of the community of Manini Ríos “you should not be afraid” of taking on more debt and he also said that they do not know “how tied” they should be to the objective of reducing spending because “simply” reality “changed completely” with the outbreak of the coronavirus in March 2020.

In the rest of the ruling party there are other leaders who, although they are more measured in their proposals, also agree with the opportunity to take some more ambitious steps in the face of the discussion that will progressively begin to dominate the political scene. Both colorados and independents, in fact, agree on the “prudence” as a concept and that seems to be, a priori, the most likely scenario of action that the government will take.

Colorado deputy Conrado Rodríguez recognized The Observer that this Rendering of Accounts will be “different” and that it is to be expected “more demands” on the part of many actors given the 4% growth that was registered during 2021. For the leader of Batllistas, the challenge will be to “find a balance” between the orders and the economic reality because the demands will not be able to have a correlate “with negative effects in the future”. In turn, the deputy of Ciudadanos, Felipe Schipani, added that although some caution is essential, there is a “reasonable margin” to generate some increases.

The deputy of the Independent Party, Iván Posada, also spoke in that direction, assuring that the government can and should “finance without compromising fiscal objectives” and that both things “are perfectly compatible”. However, the representative of the community led by the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Pablo Mieres, warned that the multicolored coalition is at the halfway point of his government and that given the health emergency that distorted the plans, “the deadlines were shortened.” This Accountability project will be, in Posada’s opinion, “one of the last big decisions” to advance “in the fulfillment of the commitments” with which the multicolors won the elections in 2019.

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