It will be the last budgetary message from this government with increased spending, and it is not expected to go smoothly, amid political tensions with the Cabildo Abierto.
President Luis Lacalle Pou will meet with the ministers of his government in the executive tower to start discussing the draft Accountabilityin a meeting that is set to be a new litmus test for the Multicolor Coalition at the head of the government Uruguay.
A new session of Minister council will take place tomorrow afternoon in the Executive Tower, directed by the president and in front of a new Accountability, which must be sent to the Parliament before June 30. This will be the last budget message of the current government in which there may be an increase in spending prior to the elections, so that the negotiations between the parties that make up the coalition may be more intense, also taking into account the recent exchange for the reform of social security, where all the partners they witnessed that intransigence is not unlimited.
The new government challenge
The budget data is not minor, and it could become a new litmus test for the government, which has not yet managed to stabilize its ranks after the scandal surrounding the ex-minister of Housing and Territorial Planning (MVOT), Irene Moreiraand the threat of council Open (AC) with breaking the electoral agreement. The disgust of some towards others was already dragging on from the treatment of the reform of the pension system, and still could not be hidden behind the mask of opportunity —or opportunism.
In this context, and although Lacalle Pou had already advanced that one of the priorities of the project should be in mental health and addiction policies, it is expected that a particular issue will be the one that generates disagreements: CA’s intention to have more funds for the 2024 election campaign.
The request, which is possibly more of a demand, is accompanied by the proven political power that the sector led by Guido Manini Rios, that in the last month put in check not only the main pillar of the government’s reformist agenda, but also its very stability and potential by threatening to withdraw the lobbying charges and leaving the multicolors in a probable minority in both chambers.
The discussion for the Accountability project is expected to be long: in 2022, with a Multicolor Coalition still stable, the process of approval of the law that outlines the budget agenda for next year lasted for more than four months. On this occasion, the political tension that does not stop escalating could delay it even more and even bury them.
Source: Ambito
