News Center

Buenos Aires Herald
La loi, c'est moi
December 20, 2009

By Michael Soltys, Buenos Aires Herald Editor

The Cristina Fern ndez de Kirchner administration has a Plan B of sorts in place (chiefly, achieving gridlock in the Senate and the threat of presidential vetoes) to maintain control of the legislative branch and offset the reduction of its Victory Front caucus in Congress is Cabinet Chief An bal Fern ndez the Plan B for the judicial branch with his contempt of court at various levels (not to mention the portfolio of Justice Minister Julio Alak)? As a former justice minister himself and a trained lawyer, Fern ndez should know better than to spark a gratuitous conflict of powers by overriding the decision of more than one court for no loftier aim than protecting the union base of a government ally by blocking an investigation of disputed elections of the airline cabin staff union (long the turf of Alicia Castro, now the Argentine Ambassador to Venezuela) at the same time the Cabinet chief is rubbishing a judge objecting to the government's media law on the grounds that he is close to retirement. Apparently the government's iron grip on the Council of Magistrates (which could be vulnerable with the newly hostile Congress) is no longer enough An bal Fern ndez now lays claim to the right to define which court procedures are constitutional and which jurisdiction corresponds to which judge, insisting that it is his duty to "protect" the Constitution.

Yet however absurdly arrogant the Cabinet chief might seem, he has put his finger on a genuine problem which looms for next year. When a government which has used its political clout to govern arbitrarily with cavalier disregard for the separation of powers and most institutional norms suddenly loses that political clout, the floodgates are opened for a welter of court actions which could throw governance into total confusion. The Cabinet chief's drive to fill this vacuum with his crude autocracy before the problems start appearing is clearly unacceptable but the onus should also be on the opposition to suggest some constructive alternatives.

Argentina faces an unusual paradox in the next two years there can be no doubt that the civic maturity of last June's vote has transformed Congress from a rubberstamping office into a potential vehicle for parliamentary democracy and yet making a reality of that parliamentary democracy could spell a constitutional and institutional crisis of the first order because it would mean calling in the government two years ahead of its time.

U.S. Government
Takes Action

Click here to view letters by the Administration and Members of Congress on Argentina's debt and economic policies.

The Debt and Europe

Click Here To Read More

ATFA Member Spotlight

Resolution on Argentina's Generalized System of Preferences Status (GSP)

Click here to view other ATFA member activity

Join Us
Show your support for ATFA and our work regarding debt default by joining our growing list of supporters.

Tell Your Friends
Do you have friends or colleagues who would be interested in supporting ATFA? Send them an invitation to this site by clicking here.