The national universities They had news in the last 24 hours: the sanction of the university financing law approved in the Senate, which implies a strengthening the budget for wages and maintenance, followed by the promise of Javier Milei who will move forward with a new presidential veto.
The reference in the area is Alejandro AlvarezUndersecretary of University Policies of the Nation, stressed that “For the President, education is an absolute priority” and indicated that “We are not going to take seriously the opinions that deny it.“. In this regard, and considering the presentation that Milei himself will make in Congress next Sunday, he said: “There will be surprises in the budget.”
Regarding the social reaction that a possible Presidential veto of university financing lawthe official said: “If the government were ruled by those who organize the largest mobilizations, there would be no elections. […] There is no problem with protests, but there is no need to be afraid of them either.” In this sense, he considered that “the mandate of the ballot boxes is to maintain economic order.”
He later criticized the law approved in both chambers, analyzing that “the law has two parts: one is abstract, because it talks about the operating expenses which have already been updated to what was requested National Interuniversity Council“. “The other article about salary update It has two problems: first, it has confusing wording, so we don’t know when we should update it. […] The other problem is that Congress is getting involved in a collective bargaining agreement.”
Finally, Álvarez closed his interview with LN+ indicating that “teaching and non-teaching salaries are being updated,” but acknowledging that tension with the university leadership exists because “The State does not update today for inflation, we have our own index.” However, based on this criterion, which would be around a 68.2% increase since January for the average state worker, the undersecretary highlighted a better position for university students: “It is an increase of 81.44%, above state salaries.”
Senate approved the University Financing Law: Javier Milei would veto it
This Thursday, the Senate of the Nation approved a project of university financingwhich already had half of the approval of the lower house. The opposition achieved a large majority and managed to get the law approved with 57 votes. affirmative votes, 10 against and one abstention.
One of the central points of the project is that the prices will be increased every month. salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff updated according to inflation. In turn, it establishes that it will have to update from January 1, 2024 and until December 31, 2024, on a bi-monthly basis, the amount of operating expenses of national universities for the Consumer Price Index reported by INDEC.
The increase will generate a fiscal impact of US$ 735,598 million, what it implies 0.14 percent of GDPaccording to the Congressional Budget Office. This figure was discussed by the Ministry of Human Capitalwhich is involved in a dispute with the university authorities and claims that the approval of the project implies an extra expense greater than the US$ 1.1 billion.
Hours later, the president Javier Milei announced that he will veto the law on budget increases for national universitiesas confirmed by a high official source to Scope. If that happens, both chambers of Congress must obtain a two-thirds majority to override the veto.
Source: Ambito
