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“Very good (Cristián) Monckeberg, very bad SP.” That message sent yesterday, at 7.47, the deputy Thomas Fuentes to one of the many WhatsApp groups of RN militants.
The parliamentarian alluded to some statements by the head of the Segpres, who had said the day before that they were picking up the message from the ruling parliamentarians who ended up voting in favor of the second withdrawal of 10% of the pension fund. In addition, Fuentes questioned the statements of President Sebastián Piñera, who, in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, attributed the advance of the initiative to the fact that it is an electoral year.
“Monckeberg comes out from the top, SP comes out from the bottom. A very basic mistake “added the deputy in his message, which accounts for the new crisis unleashed in the ruling party after a second AFP withdrawal was approved on Tuesday, reliving the bankruptcies that occurred in July with the first withdrawal, which this time caused an adjustment in the political committee.
The conflict within the bloc has escalated to such an extent that it has even spattered even the President, whom the legislators also began to question. The Head of State, however, yesterday insisted on questioning the project and said that “The path of populism and easy solutions, that of worrying about today and forgetting about tomorrow, is an easy road, but tremendously painful in time.” This, in a third week after the plebiscite of October 25 – in which the unity of the coalition was later expected – of conflicts between Chile Vamos and La Moneda, which have been caused by legislative setbacks and also after the resignation of Víctor Pérez to the Ministry of the Interior after the approval in the Chamber of the constitutional accusation against him.
Thus, amidst cross recriminations, the deputies of each party began to defend their respective ministers, especially those of the political committee, which -admit in La Moneda- were further weakened. This, mainly due to the large number of official votes (48) that were in favor of the project, which the Executive sees as a sign of disaffection with the government.
In RN’s case, the defense has focused on Monckeberg, while Europe in the holder of the Treasury, Ignacio Briones. Both parties have been confronted for several days by the role played by the secretaries of state, to whom they endorse different responsibilities during the processing of the initiative.
Even the head of the UDI bench, Maria Jose HoffmannHe warned on Tuesday that the relationship with the government would change because, in his opinion, only the parliamentarians assumed the costs of what they consider a lack of strategy by the Executive.
The deputy’s sayings were shared privately by other leaders of the bloc, who believe that the Executive does not have a clear strategy and that the ministers did not have a common position to face the 10%. This, because on the one hand Briones was seen against and, on the other hand, Monckeberg – they say – open to supporting indications.
Whatever, yesterday the confrontations between leaders of the coalition continued. Deputy RN Camilo Morán stated that “The Minister of Finance delivered zero measures regarding this project, it has been a ghost.” And added that “The only thing he did was ask for the Ruths in a kind of intimidation for those who withdrew 10%.”
In the Palace, they admit that they are again facing a complex scenario and a worn out political committee, defeated and with internal disaffection. And they emphasize that this is the main problem.
In fact, Briones and Monckeberg had friction between them as a result of the second withdrawal of funds and by the way to approach the pension agreement. And, in this scenario, it arrived Rodrigo Delgado as the new chief of staff, who has tried to pave a new deal with Chile Vamos y ir calming down, but it is still in installation.
In this context, Piñera has tried to make his political committee work in unity and begin to gain strength. In fact, for this same reason he held a meeting over the weekend at the Cerro Castillo presidential palace, in Viña del Mar, to try to leave the conflicts behind and coordinate the remainder of his administration.
In the Executive they say that the President has no intention of changing his political committee again, but that the criticisms of the parties could become untenable. Further, In Chile Vamos there are those who affirm that the head of the Segpres could resign to be a candidate for senator, which, in any case, they discard in their environment.
In the midst of the crisis, in addition, the President was on Tuesday and Wednesday in the south of the country with Delgado and other ministers. And according to government sources, the Head of State addressed the official situation yesterday during the trip, on which occasion he conveyed his concern. For this reason, he met yesterday, just arrived in Santiago, with his political committee in La Moneda, after 6.30 pm.
The appointment was to see how to face what remains of the processing of the second withdrawal and the situation within the ruling party.
In the midst of the crossover clashes, Monckeberg and the Defense incumbent, Mario Desbordes, They spoke yesterday with RN deputies to try to lower their spirits and not to continue public criticism of Briones.
On the other hand, the head of the Segegob, Jaime Bellolio, also called UDI deputies to try calm the waters, while Minister Delgado did the same and contacted by telephone the heads of the Chile Vamos bancada, with whom he will meet today, around noon, in Valparaíso.
The Interior Minister will arrive with a concrete proposal to improve communication and establish a new form of coordination that involves the use of more technology and a new system of relating to the block. The idea is to leave criticism behind, strengthen relationships and have a common strategy.
In any case, it was the heads of the pro-government deputies’ benches who held a press briefing yesterday to try to calm things down and support the ministers, a sign of unity that, however, collides with public criticism from the coalition.
“I am surprised by some criticisms that the government has done nothing, because it is the parliamentarians themselves who have known everything the government has done (…). We collect part of the criticism made by the parliamentarians of Chile Vamos, and of course we are going to talk with them even more ”Bellolio said yesterday regarding the situation with the ruling party.
