Pichetto in the United States: "By default, it's a cursed word that you must try to eradicate" – 25/04/2019

Miguel Angel Pichetto, head of the PJ's Senate group and candidate for the presidential election of Alternative Federal, had trouble talking to the United States about the situation in Argentina. In a day when the country risk reached more than 1000 points and the dollar was following a nervous rhythm, yesterday Pichetto participated in a panel at the Columbia University on the challenges and opportunities of our country, in front of an auditorium full of investors, students, academics and lawyers who follow the Argentine theme. Previously, he had other meetings with investment fund representatives whom he attempted to make sure that Argentina would comply for the payment of the debt. "The default word is a cursed word that you must try to eradicate", he said in an interview with Clarin. "If our space wins, there will be a strong commitment to pay" He did not exclude that certain aspects of the agreement with the agency could be examined, he added, in agreement with the Fund. He pointed out, for example, that the central bank's non-intervention system to control the dollar is "Excessive rigor" and that the government should renegotiate it. Pichetto said it was "unlikely" that Mauricio Macri's candidacy would be replaced by Governor Maria Eugenia Vidal and that the next government should translate an important national agreement to carry out the structural reforms.

– What message did you try to convey to the United States and what did you collect from investors?

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– My message was to express that the political space I represent has the clear conviction of compliance, the continuity of the state and that, for Argentina, the worst place is the default. Argentina must undoubtedly respect the obligations contracted. This is the message I conveyed with conviction and credibility. Concerns I have found several and also several concerns at these meetings. Concerns about a survey coming from Argentina circulating around New York City, about a possible second round scenario that could determine the triumph of the former president. The possibility of changing the presidential formula to government and the truth that I have not seen too coherent are also part of the concerns of what will not happen to me. This is part of the rumors with which this sensitive space of investment funds is managed.

– Were there worries about Plan V or support for this alternative?

– They told me that it could happen. I see it as unlikely and I said it. The government has an badet that is the president. If the president presents himself, this would imply recognition of the failure or failure of his administration. This leads to the electoral defeat of the candidate who comes after.

– You told investors that Peronism had always paid off debts.

–Yes of course. Just look at the story: Menem's Brady plan was a commitment to pay and badume responsibilities over previous debts. There is also the default exit process that begins with the Duhalde interim and continues with Kirchner, who makes the first exchange involving a willingness to pay. Even though he even badyzed the former president's previous process, the process consisted of respecting all the debts incurred by Argentina over time. The resolution of the Paris Club theme, also solved the problem of the YPF. The mistake was not to have agreed with the hold-outs or the vultures. It is a mistake that even today the president pays by generating uncertainty about his candidacy.

– But in its space are candidates like Sergio Mbada, who also propose a renegotiation with the IMF. Do you agree?

– If our space wins, there will be a strong commitment to pay with bonds and with strong private bondholders. If it is necessary to agree on new conditions, a dialogue space will certainly open. This was also said by former minister Roberto Lavagna.

– Do you think the restrictions imposed on the Central Bank on the market to contain the dollar help?

–I think it is excessive rigor that causes considerable damage to the government and does not allow you to contain the exchange rate. I think that should be resolved by the current administration sitting at the table with the Fund. The possibility of intervention could allow you to regulate the value of the currency.

– There is a lot of question of defect. Is there a real risk?

– This is a cursed word that you must try to eliminate the vocabulary. During this visit to New York, I never used it. I think it's the worst case scenario and I do not see that risk. I think we must do everything possible from politics and act with the greatest responsibility to avoid that in Argentina. This would involve going back into the past, losing rights for the most vulnerable sectors and for the workers. Everything would lose.

–Lavagna can be a good storm pilot?

– This was a dramatic moment for Argentina. Much more dramatic than now, with regard to the default situation of Argentina. He demonstrated a great capacity to emerge from this crisis and an exponential growth of the country at the time when he was minister. Until 2006, the growth of Argentina was remarkable, 7 or 8 points per year. I think he's a very effective public management man and a good candidate. Like other young figures or a very powerful governor like Schiaretti. The figure of Lavagna presents the qualities and the adequate conditions for the economic moment that crosses the country.

– Do not you think that Lavagna's predecessor, Jorge Remes Lenicov, did him the "dirty work" to launch the most drastic and unpopular measures??

–Yes of course. Duhalde's management with Remes Lenicov solved structural problems with the mega devaluation. Without a doubt, from there, the country began a process of growth that began to be observed in the second year of Duhalde. Before his departure, a recovery was already perceived in Argentina. But the role of Lavagna was essential. The orientation towards the growth was given by Lavagna after his appointment as minister.

– Will there be a stage with Lavagna? Yesterday, he gave signs that he could accept them.

– The first duty we have in space is to try to build certain levels of consensus and rules and agreements on these rules. There is always the possibility of solving the leadership through the mechanism of primaries. But it seems to me that, at the same time, the need for certainty in the country also determines the need to define certain guidelines in the dialogue in order to offer guarantees to society. Let's see if we can specify it. I put all my effort into this subject.

– Do you personally want STEP or not?

– I believe in the construction of political dialogue and in the construction of agreements. Let's try this close up.

– Do you think Cristina Kirchner can really win or have a ceiling?

– It has a roof and a hard and important floor that logically has an impact on the first round. She has a little more than Neuquén and Río Negro. I think there is an open scene of three-thirds. There is an important space to generate the construction of the National Center with Peronism as an integral part of provincial governments as a very important figure in politics, as the governor of Córdoba, who will win a decisive victory on May 12th. I think this space is able to fight the vote. I think it's a very powerful exponential scheme in front of a very binary and missing vision of the two sectors defined by polarization or by the least bad option. I think that we have to give another alternative to Argentina.

– You said in your speech that in Argentina, there is no place for Chavismo: do you think that a possible government of the former president would go in that direction?

– Some sectors close to her express ridiculous ideas, which even have a negative impact on her. Some sectors of the Argentine left have stated these ideas to do things they did not do or do not do more. Arguments that I consider damaging, even for their own electoral perspective. The Argentine company is not Venezuela. There is no construction of this model, Argentina would not adopt a system of isolationism like that of Maduro, repudiable and dictatorial, Argentina would not resist it.

– He also said that it was necessary to put an end to "the ideology of pobrismo". What do you mean?

"Ideology of pobrismo", is to speak of the poor without solving the problem of poverty. Many sectors of Argentina take part in it: working co-operatives, left-wing leaders, the Church which augurs a much better destiny, but not on earth, which is the kingdom of heaven, the evangelical churches. It is to be maintained that the only fate of the poor and excluded is the plan, which only consolidates the structure of poverty. Perón spoke to the workers and not to the subsidized unemployed. This world practically did not exist. Even in the last Peron, the fate of the message has always been the world of work, a highly consolidated build during the last period of government of the former president..

– Macri kept him?

– He kept it and off it. When one badyzes the monotributo scheme, the AUH, maintaining plans that are developed from the social policy of the government, which meant the ARGENTA as financing sectors of the # 39; AUH. I am not saying that you do not need it, nor that you have to remove it. What I'm saying is that the government's policy in this regime has been identical, and even increased spending, to that of the previous government.

– What do you propose?

– I propose that the resolution of the poverty in Argentina pbades by a productive model of creation of jobs, of incentive to the work and by an important culture in Argentina in the previous years, as in the years 60 and 70 Argentina that I have known from my parents and grandparents. People lived off their work. He woke up in the morning and went to work. The one who did not have a job caught the newspaper and went looking for work. This scheme of plans forever discourages the search for work, immobilizes, determines desolate and decadent examples, the father, the grandfather, the grandson in a feedback structure of poverty. It is a dark destination, it is conurbano space and villas. I believe in a brighter look for Argentina.

– Why do you say that the model of social security in Argentina is "unfeasible"?

– In the medium term, this is unfeasible because it does not work without state funding. It covers 65% of the national budget and represents 73% of Argentina's primary expenditure. You have to govern Argentina with the rest, the 35% who have to pay salaries in the public administration, the armed forces, the works, the health, the education, the universities. What we have generated is a monstrous expenditure which, combined with the interest on the debt, consumes the energy of Argentina and determines an extremely heavy fiscal policy for the labor sector and the companies: it is very difficult to produce and work in Argentina.

– What would you do to change this model?

– Structural reforms are needed and must be made with social economy agreements, with the participation of the labor and business sectors. Reforms in the world of work can not be done with a model of adjustment, they must be made with an expansive vision, with a productive model, with incentives for job creation, with elimination of taxes for those who invest to create jobs. A productive model is what can lift the poor out of poverty.

–The next government must do if or if a national agreement to implement structural reforms?

Absolutely. Whoever wins, it takes a national unity agreement to define state policies, rebuild the armed forces, leave behind the remorse of the painful past of the 70s, which always forces us to watch Argentina with the rearview mirror and always look at the back. A production model for the defense, to find the role of the marine at sea, the defense of our fish production. The defense of the national interest through an industrial model. The conurbano factories can not be affected by the Chinese who put cheap goods in Argentina and destroy the factories and the Argentine labor.