President Alberto Fernández assured this Tuesday that “not all political leaders are the same” and highlighted those who “they believe that the State has a paramount importance, to equalize where the market unequals”, when leading the launch of the first National Insurance for Volunteer Firefighters.
“Many times disenchanted voices are heard saying that all politicians are the same. I do not concede that: there are those of us who believe that the work of those who put their lives at stake on a daily basis must be valued and those who think that they have to fix themselves as they can,” said Fernández in Avellaneda, in the launch of the first National Insurance for 58,000 volunteer firefighters and firefighters from all over the country.
And he stressed: “We are not all the same. We believe that the State is of paramount importance, to equalize where the market is unequal, to value where value does not appear and to care for the best of ours.”
Along these lines, he recalled “the teaching that our beloved national (men’s) soccer team left us, that if we work as a team, if everyone does their part and we all have the idea of a common destiny to achieve, everything is easier to achieve “.
The Head of State was accompanied by the Minister of Social Development, Victoria Tolosa Paz; the head of Banco Nación, Silvina Batakis; the directors of Nación Seguros, Alberto Pagliano and Mauro Tanos; the legislator behind the law, Eduardo “Bali” Bucca, and the president of the National Council of Firefighters, Carlos Alfonso.
Fernández thanked Bucca “for the initiative” and pointed out that “this law that we promulgated in June, in the midst of a pandemic, has three chapters and today we are covering one.”
“In the next few days the tax problem will be resolved. Then they will stop paying VAT for the purchase of inputs they need to fulfill their tasks. And I take the issue of rates as homework, I promise to work so that they have a rate differentiated,” said the president.
Insurance details
The Insurance launched this Tuesday arose from the new Law to Strengthen the National System of Volunteer Firefighters No. 27,629, sanctioned by the National Congress and promulgated by the Executive in June 2021.
It was developed through the coordinated work between the Ministry of Social Development of the Nation, the National Council of Firefighters, Banco Nación and Nación Seguros.
“Just as I value the health personnel who faced the pandemic at the time, I also value what you always do, I have seen you drop everything. Whenever there is a risk situation in Argentina, there is a volunteer firefighter behind to appease it”Fernandez stressed.
He added: “That puts them in a place where the rest of the community can’t do anything but say ‘thank you’.”
In addition, the President noted that “It is the first time in Latin America that there is a comprehensive system that takes care of the firefighter or volunteer firefighter.”
With the new law comes “a comprehensive system that not only attends to medical expenses when they are injured working in these risky situations, it also covers lives for their family,” Fernández said, “so that misfortune can be better borne.”
It is an unprecedented measure since it includes compensation for death, permanent total or partial disability, medical-pharmaceutical assistance and burial expenses, official sources reported.
Words of Toulouse Peace
Meanwhile, Tolosa Paz highlighted “the work of articulation of this unanimously sanctioned law” and “with the creation of the fund implementing today” of the law.
“We have to take care of those who take care of us, we work together with the Ministry of Security because this team that has to give immediate, urgent responses to those who save lives,” and he referred that “this has an immense, enormous value” that “is only returned when there is a political decision”, and he thanked the President in this regard.
“Argentina gets ahead with an example like yours,” he finally said, addressing the volunteer firefighters.
other attendees
For his part, Ferraresi said that Avellaneda “is the city with the largest number of firefighters per inhabitant.”
“We have very important coverage,” said the community chief, and appreciated the work of the volunteer firefighters of “the vocation to serve others, exposing themselves to save life and material things,” in addition to transmitting to the children “that vocation, that example.”
Bucca, the promoter of the project that became law when he was a national deputy, pointed out that “the priorities are to strengthen our fire stations” and said that “as a legislator I had the mission of creating a law that strengthens the national system, a law walked territorially” .
“A law emerged that is very important and your decision Alberto (speaking to the President) marks a before and after,” said the now provincial senator, who added: “As Argentines we have to be proud of these things, because they transform people’s lives.”
He said that with this regulation “more than 1,500 million pesos from the State will be granted to finance this health insurance”, and pointed out that “there is a political decision with a lot of empathy to continue advancing.”
For his part, Batakis also thanked the head of state “for putting this issue on the public agenda” and noted that Alberto Fernández “gave us a clear indication and the teams were able to quickly organize themselves”, to underline that “this is what having a efficient state”.
He recalled that “there was a management at Banco Nación where rights were reduced, due to political will” and he said in this sense that “until 2015 it had many more companies than today, such as Nación Seguros, but the previous management made it loss-making for present it to society as inefficient”.
Batakis emphasized the idea of ”defend public banking and public companies” and narrated that “in 131 years of Banco Nación there were only three deficits, which was in the previous administration, and today it is giving credits and these services.”
