BUENOS AIRES (Portal) Argentina’s leftwing President Alberto Fernandez has sparked a dispute with the country’s highest court and sparked a kind of institutional crisis after he said he would reject a court decision to allocate a higher share of public resources to the city of Buenos Aires grant air.
The country has a system for regulating the allocation of state funds to regions, including the capital, which is controlled by a conservative mayor and is pushing for a larger share.
In a Wednesday decision, the Supreme Court said the level should be raised from 1.4% of total resources to 2.95% after it was lowered by government decree during the 2020 Covid19 pandemic. The city is the richest and most populous region in the country.
Fernández said in a statement late Thursday the decision was unjustified and vowed to ignore it.
“It is an unprecedented, inappropriate and impossible to enforce decision,” he said, calling it politically motivated ahead of next year’s general election and adding that it would harm other provinces.
Fernández, whose popularity has plummeted and whose ruling coalition was bitterly defeated in last year’s general election, said the state will “oppose members of the Supreme Court” and seek to overturn the decision.
His comments sparked a backlash on both sides, with some agreeing with the president that the decision was unwarranted and others saying that rejecting a Supreme Court ruling sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the judicial system.
“The President has decided to break the constitutional order, completely violate the rule of law and attack democracy,” said Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2023.
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan and Marta Lopez)