Budgets 2021: tough confrontation in Mixed Commission ends with rejection of the Public Treasury

The first session of the mixed commission that reviewed the budget project for next year was converted into a duel, culminating in the rejection by 14 votes to 10 of item number 50 of the Public Treasury, despite the request of the authorities of not to pronounce so soon.

It could be said that this is the main item of the project, as it is the most voluminous with more than $ 6 billion of resources, in whose gloss it contains the amounts to be transferred later to the different programs or projects that are materializing. It also includes the new special funds that the government created such as the Science Fund for $ 57,219 million and the Pyme Fund for $ 96,000 million.

“In the midst of this crisis, citizens are asking for dialogue and agreements instead of political polarization. Therefore, it is unintelligible that, before even starting to discuss, the opposition rejects from the outset and en bloc an item of more than US $ 7 billion. Resources that include special funds for culture, for vaccines, post-natal subsidies ”, indicated the Minister of Finance, Ignacio Briones.

For its part, the opposition that led to the rejection offered different arguments to promote this vote, alluding that the government did not want to sit down and talk. In addition, he criticized the transfer of transfers between the games, differences in the presentation of allocations, apart from the cut for higher education, science and culture. “As opposition we have analyzed this situation and the intention is precisely to generate a negotiation, because up to now we have the conviction that this environment does not exist. We have different opinions and we face a situation of distrust, distancing ”, indicated the president of the mixed, Senator Jorge Pizarro (DC).

Prior to the vote, there was a presentation by the president of the Fiscal Observatory, Jeannette von Wolfersdorff, who questioned the changes that the government introduced in the project, such as the way of accounting for transfers, the delivery of numbers in PDF format that prevents society from civil can be well informed, less transparency, among other things.

Many of his criticisms were part of the interventions of the opposition that were not satisfied with the statement of the Budget Director, Matías Acevedo, to clear up their doubts regarding the destination of the special funds. But what caused the most irritation was the harshness of some responses, such as, for example, Senator Carlos Bianchi who asked about a reduction in gas subsidies to the Magallanes Region. “When you start to put together a story that lowers the subsidy, it seems serious to me, setting up an artificial controversy regarding absolutely false data seems irresponsible,” Acevedo said, and although he pointed out that he did not say it for the senator, it caused annoyance among parliamentarians.

“I ask you to listen and dialogue, styles that deepen problems waste time, we get nothing by exacerbating real and legitimate tensions. Responding in a loud and very brusque way does not help. I have been with many Dipres and I had not seen responses of that nature, “commented Senator Carlos Montes (PS).

At the end of the session, the director acknowledged: “If anyone has been offended, I apologize, my goal is to score the points.”

Although the Minister of Finance, Ignacio Briones, indicated that he will not extend the Emergency Family Income (IFE), he did not rule out that this instrument would be used again if there was a second wave of coronavirus. “I have clearly indicated that next year if we have the misfortune of having to quarantine again we have a designed instrument called IFE and we will press the button. We all know that the priority is to get back to work ”. And he recalled that the June agreement was explicit in that the IFE was strictly associated with mobility restrictions.