Persons from across the electoral spectrum agreed during the week that President Piñera’s political decision to have brought the discussion to the TC for the third withdrawal, was the one that definitively led to the deepening of the crisis that has La Moneda today against the ropes.
The political desfonde that Palacio suffers today and that was evidenced in chile’s vote Vamos in both Chambers has La Moneda deployed trying to get afloat through a cross-cutting agreement with the opposition, having partly bypassed the official fence following last Friday’s announcement that they were opening up to a project of their own for the third retreat.
But the situation is not going to be easy, given the Executive’s weakness, and after an emergency meeting of opposition senators, it was decided to up the ante and demand the enactment of the already approved project to continue the talks.
In this context, and in an interview with El Mercurio the mayor for the re-election in Providence and presidential letter UDI, Evelyn Matthei, recounted part of the conversations that together with Mario Desbordes and Joaquín Lavín argued with President Piñera.
The edil recounted that “what several of us conveyed was that concern to put in the hands of the TC a decision that was extremely difficult, and that in the end, whatever failed failed, put those people in an impossible situation”. He added that “we told him that it was urgent to reach medium- and long-term agreements that would allow Chileans to face, first, that sense of burden of not knowing where we are going, but also, of addressing the under-the-bottom issue, which was the one that became explicit on October 18, which is that we need greater degrees of equity in Chile.”
For Matthei, “it is obvious that there has to be tax reform in Chile.” He said, “If you look at my position, in general, it’s never been to deny resources when you feel like you’re going to spend well.”
Finally, fulfilling the commitment of the three presidents already appointed to lower the decibels to facilitate an agreement, matthei similarly brought the head of state to the floor, which seems like a novelty at this point. He noted that “the President would have no cost to be super popular”, as “it would be enough for him to say ‘why withdraw only 10%, remove everything’. With this, his popularity would rise enormously and he would not pay the cost.”
Matthei explained that “you have to be clear why you’re not doing it, and I don’t think you do it because when you took office you said you were going to take care of our country. He clearly understands, and everyone understands, that withdrawing silver from pension funds is not the best option.”
“Yes, today there are a lot of people who need it, others who have used it to pay off debts and other people who have saved it, because you have to be clear that 53% of those moneys today are in banks, people haven’t spent them,” he said.
