Cabildo Abierto achieved a US$13 million increase for the military

2023-09-30 03:22:19

Photo: Twitter / Guido Manini Ríos

The political party Open Town Hall (CA) It consolidates itself in the multicolor coalition in what it did, based on what it promised to its voters: plead for the military and the armed forces in general.

In recent weeks, they have become immovable in their intention to achieve a budget increase in a specific area, the salary of military personnel. They even threatened to not support Accountability if their demands were not met.

In the midst of intense debates about the national budget, CA insisted on the need for a budget increase in this regard. This position unleashed tensions and controversies in the multicolor coalitionas other parties had different approaches to resource allocation.

Last Thursday, the Budget Committee of the Senate, which works together with the Finance Committee, voted on the Accountability bill. This vote marked a crucial point in the discussion on the national budget.

Accountability: Defense takes a large part of the resources

Within the multicolor coalition, the senator of the National Party (PN), Jorge Gandini, played a relevant role in the negotiations and debates on the budget. One of the most notable aspects was the reallocation of resources for a significant amount, reaching the figure of 1,218,785,008 pesos, approximately equivalent to 30 million dollars.

Of the total reallocated budget, the Ministry of National Defense (MDN) will receive an investment of around 523 million pesos, which is equivalent to 13 million dollars. These funds will be allocated mainly to salary increases for military personnel, ranging from soldiers to lieutenant colonels, with an increase of around 1,000 pesos.

A portion of the funds for this salary increase will be obtained through the supresion of 120 vacancies in the Ministry and the National Health Directorate of the Armed Forcesadas. Additionally, they will be removed 82 permanent civil contracts of the General Command of the Navy. These budget optimization measures will allow an important part of the salary increases to be financed.

Although the source of financing for the other half of the necessary funds has not been clearly specified, pro-government legislators have advanced that this will be obtained from general revenues that were not spent in other areas of the budget.