Serge Massa had a month and a half of peace in the relationship with Cristina Kirchner. It was the time in which the vice president let him do it, from the assumption of him as Minister of Economy, until he put his first objection to the performance of the Tigrense.
On September 29, the day Massa had gone to Congress accountable and had established a good dialogue with the opposition, Christina marked the field. He asked for a “more precise and effective intervention” for inflation.
Front-line officials, who had welcomed the intervention of the economy minister in congress, they were confused when they saw the message: “That’s not going to be possible”, they protested in off with the journalists who consulted them. The good news was short-lived: suddenly the title of the media had changed to the demand of the vice. It was the end of the truce.
From that moment, Massa began to do economic juggling, just as his predecessors in office had done. The recipe is complicated: comply with the International Monetary Fund program without offending Kirchnerism. Go to Cristina to Kristalina without seeming schizophrenic.
STRAIN. Communication between the Minister of Economy and hard-line Kirchnerism remains open. Massa has a direct line with Máximo Kirchner to bring positions closer every time the son of the vice crosses it, which happens more and more often. They usually talk at least twice a week.
On October 17, the day of Loyalty, Máximo asked for a fixed-sum bonus for all workers, and ruled: “They are waiting for them to stop betraying them.” In the corridors of Economy they received with surprise the declaration: they know that
they have room to please Kirchnerism, because that would be failing the agreement not to increase the fiscal deficit they have with the IMF. Once again, they were put between a rock and a hard place.
However, in the environment of Massa do not take a dim view of public criticism of Maximum to the Minister of Economy. In fact, it serves their purposes: to differentiate themselves from Christina, which will be key for the upcoming election year. In this way, they explain, distance is achieved without the Tigrense having to bear the political cost. They do business.
AGREEMENTS. But not all are negative for the K. In recent weeks the Economy Minister has given its approval to the pressures of Cristina and released plans that give you some peace of mind. The freezing of prices, raising the profit floor, the delay in the implementation of tariff segmentation, a bonus for people with no income and the most marketing of decisions: an installment plan to buy televisions prior to the World Cup. All very nac & pop.
With the political waist that characterizes it, Massa presents one by one the plans that Kirchnerism brings to him without blushing, despite the fact that in mid-October he had his last dialogue with theIMF head Kristalina Georgieva, who asks him to go in another direction. In fact, in September the Economy Minister was in Washington rehearsing a plan that he should put into practice to achieve the goals they agreed upon. Nothing is further from reality.
For now, the vice and the minister are measured. It will not be until the beginning of the electoral campaign that they make a decision: if the economy continues to fail, Cristina could separate from Massa. If the minister sees any possibility of playing, he will have no problem turning against Kirchnerism again. Meanwhile, they balance.
