TPP11 already has a voting date in the Senate and, in the midst of the fracture of the ruling party regarding the treaty, the senators of the Christian Democracy (DC) are also divided over the controversial international trade agreement.
And it is that, while in Democratic Socialism they seek to unblock the discussion and approve the TPP11 as soon as possible, in Approve Dignidad –in line with the Government– they appeal to the fact that the issue of bilateral letters or side letters.
In the Falangist shop, meanwhile, senators Yasna Provoste and Francisco Huenchumilla are committed to keeping TPP11 on hold, pending the definition of bilateral letters, while senators Ximena Rincón and Matías Walker describe it as vital for the economy.
In this sense, as in other projects, Senator Iván Flores appears with a key role: he is in charge of “breaking the tie” within the group of Christian Democrat senators, although, in his opinion, with or without the votes of the DC , the TPP11 would be approved next Tuesday, October 11 in the Senate.
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It is that, according to Senator Flores, the TPP11 will be approved because “all the right wants to approve it and a good part of the ruling party as well.” So, in his opinion, “it’s a situation that’s no longer a draw.”
He assures that, even if the entire Christian Democracy voted against, said treaty is still approved. “The right has 25 votes and, plus Senator Lagos Weber and Senator Insulza and a few more, it would be approved,” he stresses.
In any case, he believes that TPP11 “is not going to move the needle if there are no changes in internal policies.” He says that he would move it towards the positive “if we had public policies that allow a diversified national production and add value.”
Therefore, with or without TPP11, for him, “value addition will be done abroad and we will continue extracting natural products.” This, adds the parliamentarian, “is a problem of the national development strategy, which has to do with Chile’s position regarding its resources.”
Senator Flores states that we should not have so many fears in case it is approved, since we already have the Free Trade Agreements with the other countries that make up the agreement “and there are no major novelties, except that of joint action in a major block.
The parliamentarian and former president of the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies says that he is in doubt about whether or not to approve TPP11 in the vote in the Upper House next Tuesday, although sources close to him maintain – based on his arguments – that he should reject it.
“Those who try to sell it as if it’s going to change our lives, it’s not going to be like that. And those who demonize it, it’s not going to be like that either. What happens is that nothing happens. In an open country like ours, that continues to drop national production, in a couple of years it will continue like this and I don’t know what we are going to do when we robotize or automate the work”, comments the legislator.
For the senator for the Los Ríos Region, the approval of TPP11 –he emphasizes– “is not going to move the needle at all” and he considers that “everything has become a storm”. This, while the Government “has been ‘playing’, transferring an internal, political problem to the discussion of this multilateral agreement,” he points out.
“I think something is being discussed here, when in reality what is intended to be covered is something else,” says the senator, criticizing the Foreign Ministry.
The portfolio led by Minister Antonia Urrejola, for Flores, “should previously work on the issues with the National Congress before delivering everything cooked and letting the question be approved or rejected.”
“The side letters are an excuse”
Regarding the position of La Moneda, where they hope to have the side letters To ratify the TPP11 and “avoid damage to national interests” -as Minister Camila Vallejo recently pointed out-, Senator Iván Flores considers that the Executive “are trapped in their own slogan”.
“Democratic Socialism, some of them, have enough votes to be able to join the position of the right and approve the TPP11,” he stresses, reviewing that there are “others” (I Approve Dignity) who, due to ideology or arguments, are going to reject.
“The problem lies with the Government, because the question is who is in charge in La Moneda. Which of the two coalitions is in charge within the Government. And what they were doing was asking for time so as not to have a political defeat again, beyond the content of the TPP11 “, he points out.
In this sense, the senator argues that “the thing about the side letters it is an invention”, because these “can be applied bilaterally if the treaty is approved or in the situation we are in now, which has not yet been signed”. For the DC legislator, “it is not the issue”.
“At any time, bilateral agreements can be reached. What the TPP has is that it is a joint agreement. side letters They are excuses to give the government time to fix its internal political disorder,” he concludes.
It is worth mentioning that, in a committee meeting held this Monday, it was decided that this Tuesday, October 4, the second discussion of the initiative will take place, without voting on it. The instance was requested by Senator Daniel Núñez (PC), in order for the Government to continue deploying its strategy of bilateral letters (side letters). After this discussion, the TPP11 will be voted on next week, once Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola returns to the country, an opportunity in which she is expected to respond to concerns about this treaty.
The vote will be the first point in the table for that day, so there is no option to postpone it again.
Last Friday, President Gabriel Boric recognized that it was a mistake to postpone the debate on this agreement, which – he admits – is “difficult” for his coalition. Of course, in the forum held by the newspaper The country of Spain, the President defended the last postponement, affirming that “it was postponed for a week so that there would be a discussion and we are in a strategy – which I consider correct and which I vindicate – of asking the signatory countries of the TPP for side letters to exclude the Chapter 9, which is the dispute resolution to have greater autonomy for the States”.
