The measure will be published in the Official Gazette next week and It will then be communicated to the National Congress, which must assign it parliamentary processing, preferably to the sanction of the law..
After being left out of the list of companies to be privatized in the Bases Law, the ruling party thus revives the idea of selling Aerolíneas Argentinas, within the framework of the conflict with the aeronautical unions and the strikes that have occurred in recent weeks.
But in addition, the Government thus places itself above the projects presented by the PRO and the UCR. The first was presented by the deputy Hernan Lombardi and also declares the company “subject to privatization” in the terms and with the effects provided for in Law 23,696. Furthermore, it authorizes the Executive Branch to “establish the legal framework and carry out the procedure to implement the privatization process referred to in Article 1.”
The other initiative was presented by the head of the Civic Coalition block, Juan Manuel Lopez. This text specifies that when privatizing the firm, Law 23,696 and its amendments are contemplated, “and must comply, for such purposes, with the prescriptions that arise from said norm and those established by articles 11 to 14 of Law 27,742”, of Bases and Starting Points for Argentines.
The presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, argued in his usual press conference that the flag line “it drags a chronic deficit as a result of the disastrous efforts carried out by each and every one of the populist governments which causes the need to carry out constant transfers of public resources that put fiscal sustainability at risk.”
The official stressed that since its renationalization in 2008, the State’s contributions to cover the company’s deficit “exceed the $8 billion”. “Why should Argentines who have never traveled in their lives cover this atrocity? It makes absolutely no sense. Evidently the lack of empathy has reigned in Argentina for years,” he launched.
The privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas
In the midst of the conflict between the Government and union sectors that represent air travelers, Adorni confirmed that the administration of La Libertad Avanza will seek the privatization of the flag airline. It should be noted that previously, the transfer of the state company to the private sector had been left out of the privatization package of the approved Bases Law, so now, the spokesperson stated that Milei will seek close the issue through a decree.
Among his reasons, the public official stated that Aerolíneas Argentinas has an “oversized” structure because it has “a provision of 1,204 line pilots to fly 81 active aircraft“. “An absolutely excessive number compared to the industry average,” said Adorni, who did not provide further details of this comparison.
In his speech, the presidential spokesperson once again attacked the airline’s employees, whom he accused of enjoying a “amount of benefits“extensive” at the expense of a poor Argentina. Among them he listed: “salaries, payment for travel time, benefits on birthdays, guaranteed minimum salaries above those offered by the industry, free tickets,” among others. .
“For all this I repeat, probably In the first days of next week this decree will be signed that makes Aerolíneas subject to privatization“concluded Adorni.
The debate in Congress over the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas
Last Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies debated the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas in a plenary session of Transportation and Budget commissions. The Government wants to move forward with a ruling next month for the sale of the company in the midst of the conflict with the aeronautical unionswho carry out forceful measures for salary demands and in rejection of layoffs.
The announcement of the Milei decree regarding the flag airline comes, precisely, after a setback in the Lower House. The thing is that, during the debate, the Government intended to obtain the opinion so that the project could be brought down to the floor for debate. However, in a tense plenary session, the ruling party and PRO allies failed in their first attempt to obtain the resolution and The discussion will continue next Tuesday.
Present at the meeting were the Deputy Chief of Staff, Jose Rolandiand the Secretary of Transportation, Franco Mogetta; despite being summoned, he was absent Fabián Lombardi, president of Aerolíneas Argentinas. It should be noted that the ruling party already failed in its first attempt to privatize the company in December and was even on the initial list of state companies for sale that appeared in one of the articles of the Bases law, although it was finally deleted after negotiations in the Senate.
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Deputies
On the side of Peronism and the left There is strong opposition to the initiative, while the PRO, the Civic Coalition and La Libertad Avanza They seek privatization. The UCR would not have a homogeneous position, while from Federal Meeting they needed to Scope a first position of rejection: “We do not want to give a blank check to the Government. We need to know what methodology the process will have, what controls there will be and what benefits it will give to the buyer.” “We want the experts to come to speak and for the debate to last as long as it has to last: we are not going to privatize Airlines because of a union conflict,” they said from Peronism.
During the meeting, Nicolas Massot (Federal Meeting) reflected that “to think that the State is stupid and does not know how to manage or participate in the share ownership of certain companies is as blind as what it seeks to get out of” and stressed that the same process of privatization of the company is being repeated. airlines that took place in the ’90s: “We are not legislating even on the methodology of the procedure, but rather We are giving the Executive Branch total freedom so that from now on it has the condition to advance in a scrapping and liquidation of assets without further ado.“. “I wouldn’t ask Aerolíneas to make money, but stop making money for people“he concluded.
Currently, there are two projects presented with similar guidelines for the transfer of the airline to the private sector. The first was prepared by the PRO and defended by the deputy Hernan Lombardiwho asked “completely replace the commercial airline system that brought us here and meant a restriction on tourism“. Along these lines, Lombardi stressed that they seek “better prices and therefore we want competition” and requested “to change labor relations at Aerolíneas Argentinas; Today we begin that path.” However, he recalled that “an attempt at privatization was already made, which was unsuccessful because it was only a transition from a public monopoly to a private one, that is, an abuse of a dominant position.”
The other initiative corresponds to the one sent by the Civic Coalition. Representing that text, the deputy Juan Manuel López “It is a lie that a state airline is needed because they do not fly to certain destinations and there could be smaller companies that go to smaller cities” and expressed the need for “Aerolíneas Argentinas is not an obstacle to a better airline policy and for that we have to evaluate privatization“At the time, Aerolíneas was privatized, Iberia kept it and it was a disaster, because the demand is to open up competition and Argentina has a hyper-regulated market in aviation matters,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
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