the radical senator Martin Lousteau He repudiated the aggression against the vice president, but also those suffered by the police officers who tried to contain the excesses. , and those we did not name, who are the policemen who were thrown Molotov cocktails and suffered serious injuries”.Agreement with the IMF: the debate in the Budget and Treasury CommissionFabián Marelli – LA NACIONThe chief of staff, John Manzur, justified the need to review the withholdings on soybean meal and oil, which are currently taxed at 31 percent. He said that the measures being analyzed by the Government respond to a framework of “absolute exceptionality” due to the rise in the prices of grain commodities that was unleashed by the war in Ukraine. “They have been working on tools, such as voluntary trusts to generate conditions that protect Argentina. But there are also some decisions that have been made, including the one adopted by the Minister of Agriculture, who is a great minister, which are part of the absolute exceptionality that occurs in this international context,” he said, referring to the closing of the registry. to export soy flour and oil which would lead, according to official sources, to an increase in export duties.The chief of staff, Juan Manzur, is one of the representatives of the Government who participates in the meeting with the senators Fabián Marelli – LA NACION “The producers call me”. The senator from Entre Ríos Alfredo DeAngeliknown for his career in the agricultural world –in fact, he was one of the protagonists of the fight in the countryside with the government of Cristina Kirchner- went straight to the point.“I have received many phone calls from producers, since [usted] was going to be present here. Because we are planning, in May the sowing of wheat begins in Chaco, then that of sunflowers, corn… so the producers told me: ‘ask the minister: are the withholdings going to increase?’ We have to know if we continue sowing, or stop sowing”.Senators Alfredo De Angeli and Beatríz ÁvilaFabián Marelli – LA NACION Guzmán replied: “The decisions that are made will have to do with the nature of the problem that is sought to be solved. The objective is to find a balance between production incentives and the impact on domestic inflation. Having said that, I answer: an increase in export duties on grains, wheat, corn, sunflower, soybeans and other grains is not being contemplated.” His statements were in line with what he announced, almost simultaneously, the presidential spokeswoman, Gabriela Cerruti: “None of the measures that we are analyzing is the rise in retentions to corn, soybeans and wheat. Despite this clarification, official sources acknowledged that withholdings on soybean meal and oil could rise by two points. Some pro-government senators do not hold back criticism of the government’s agreement with the IMF. Face to face with Minister Guzmán, the man from Jujuy William Snopeck He tacitly reproached him for the lack of management in the fight against poverty and inflation. “Mr. Minister, how many Argentines sleep on the street? The situation in Argentina is serious and I did not hear in the presentations [de los funcionarios] what are the answers that we are going to give to the Argentines”, said the man from Jujuy.Guillermo Snopek from Jujuy Fabián Marelli – LA NACION “You mentioned the word four times inflation -continuous-. On this subject, I remember that in the midst of the pandemic, the Argentine government provided ATP for two million people and we found that there were nine million Argentines outside the productive system.” Snopek, a Peronist from Jujuy who maintains a confrontation with the radical governor Gerardo Morales , recalled that the President referred to the problem of inflation at the opening of sessions of Congress. “We want to know what strong policies there will be in this matter. There is talk of reactivation, but there is no talk of a real plan of the national government for labor inclusion, ”he said. In front of the minister Martin Guzmanthe radical senator Victor Zimmerman he unraveled the question that everyone in the opposition is asking. “Mr. Minister, you spoke about possible additional measures to attack contingencies. What measures and what would they be? Do you plan to raise more taxes? Will there be more retentions to the field?, he asked. Guzmán seemed to have the answer rehearsed. “There is no commitment in the context of the program assumed with the IMF on taxes or withholdings. Now, after the fruitful debate that took place in the Chamber of Deputies, which allowed the construction of understandings (with the opposition) in the articles regarding the responsibilities on what is being voted on, it must be said that the program contains a series of goals and commitments of general economic policy, but afterwards it is the responsibility of the national government to design and execute a large number of aspects that imply the capacity to fulfill the commitments made in the program”, said the minister. And he added, without giving any precision about the plans of the Casa Rosada: “It is the national government that defines a set of broad fiscal policies for the objectives that are outlined.” A record presence – almost fifty senators – attends the Blue Room of the Congress to the exhibition of the economic team, led by Martin Guzman, in his defense of the agreement with the IMF. Kirchnerism is represented by a delegation of senators, most of them acolytes of the vice president Cristina Kirchner; among them, Juliana Di Tullio, Ana María Ianni, María Eugenia Duré, Ana María Pilatti, Nora Giménez and Silvia Sapag. The climate between the senators and those who defend the government project -including the minister- is calm but distant.The cristinista senator Juliana Di Tullio, sitting next to Mercedes Marcó del Pont Fabián Marelli with the IMF. The ruling bloc met and decided that each of the 35 legislators should act “according to their best knowledge and belief.” Before the Senate, the Nation’s Minister of Labor, Claudio Moroni, listed a series of data linked to employment in Argentina to relate them to the agreement with the Fund. While pointing out that the salary had a growth of 3.4% last year, the official remarked: “We have a real growth in salary, this shows that it is this Government, which did all these things, it is the one that comes to propose that it is the best deal possible [con el FMI]”.“The program established by the agreement with the Fund does not have any labor modification guidelines, nor are there any pension reform guidelines”, he underlined.“All employment indicators are good”, Moroni continued, and remarked: “This program is part of the same policies”.In his speech before the Senate Budget Commission, the head of the Treasury, Martín Guzmán considered that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund is “different from the previous ones”. “It does not foresee a labor or pension reform, none that removes rights,” warned the official when presenting in a plenary session of commissions of the Upper House. “From the macroeconomic point of view, the agreement has three objectives: the accumulation of international reserves, a fiscal path and a monetary strengthening”, explained Guzmán in his presentation before the representatives of the upper house. The Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman, defends in the Senate the agreement that Argentina signed with the IMF. After insisting that “there is no possibility that Argentina can face the burden of maturities” with the international organization this year and next, he warned about the impact that the war between Russia and Ukraine has on the Argentine economy. “The war is present in Argentina and that is seen in the prices. It is seen in the prices associated with commodities: it is seen in the prices of products that consume wheat, eggs, oils, milk and in the entire consumption basket. It is the responsibility of our government to build certainty in a context of uncertainty.” “I want to express our deep concern and rejection of the acts of violence that have occurred in the Senate that have directly affected the vice president. Violence can in no way be accepted as a mode of action when we live in a democracy. On behalf of the national government, I express the deepest rejection of all violence like the one that took place here last Thursday,” said the chief of staff, Juan Manzur, about the attack on Cristina Kirchner’s office.The senators in the Budget and Finance CommissionFabián Marelli – LA NACIONThe Senate begins today the debate in commission of the project that endorses the agreement that the Government reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approved on Friday by the Chamber of Deputies and that the ruling party expects to sanction this week. In Deputies, the agreement was approved with 202 affirmative votes out of 257 legislators.