Diana Mondino traveled to the Dominican Republic to attend the inauguration of re-elected President Luis Abinader . Upon her return to Buenos Aires, several issues will occupy her foreign policy agenda , such as: the search for elusive investments for Mileísta Argentina; the Mercosur agreement with the European Union; the issue of elections in Venezuela; participation in the next United Nations Assembly and the tour of Asia and Africa .
All this in the midst of an internal crisis at the Foreign Ministry triggered by the diplomats' protest against paying Income Tax on the bonus they receive for residing abroad .
Mondino is well aware of the demands of the Association of Professionals of the Foreign Service of the Nation (APSEN) “because he has held meetings with delegates of the group that brings together diplomats. In any case, he maintained public caution and the conflict has not yet found a point of agreement. The protest included strikes and work stoppages. An APSEN meeting was scheduled for this Friday to determine whether new measures of force will be implemented,” reported the newspaper Infobae .
Foreign service professionals are rejecting the Personal Income Tax regulation that eliminated the exemption that applied to diplomatic personnel residing abroad. Diplomats have always paid income tax on their salaries, but the “cost of living” surcharge charged for assignment abroad was exempted .
This situation has middle and lower-ranking diplomats in a very delicate situation and they are the ones pushing to intensify the forceful measures such as paralyzing all consulates. "They are unleashed, they want to go to war," a source who closely follows the conflict told the La Política Online (LPO) portal.
Mondino adds fuel to the fire by sending strikebreakers
In this delicate context and with a significant part of the foreign service professionals in turmoil, Mondino had no better idea than to send Gabriel Martínez, Undersecretary of International Economic Negotiations turned scab, to a meeting of diplomats, with the aim of “delaying decision-making and avoiding consensus to implement new measures and force a vote. But he failed: by 289 votes against 36 the plan of struggle was decided to continue.”
At the top of APSEN they are betting on judicialization , even more so after the court's decision to give the government three days to notify whether there was already a previous claim of this kind , which means that they are speeding up the process.
For now, the decision of the assembly of foreign service professionals is to mobilize every day, at 5 pm, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship until the injunction is issued. "The idea is not to bother much more until the justice is issued, if it comes out against, the scenario changes and the measures can be stronger" , said a source quoted by LPO .
It seems that the mood at the San Martín Palace is high . Even more so after it was announced that Mondino had appointed his friend, Carlos Edmundo Starmanns, as “Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador” . The duties in Starmanns ’ new position will be “ad honorem” , although he will continue to receive a salary for the position he already holds as Academic Director of the Institute of the Foreign Service of the Nation .
It is worth noting that eldiarioAR consulted Diana Mondino 's entourage about the reasons that motivated this promotion . But the response was a brief , laconic: "It is in the Official Gazette."
And the nonsense of Diana Mondino at the head of the Foreign Ministry does not stop happening. She did not even manage to get Mercosur to issue a joint statement ratifying Argentina's claim to the Malvinas , which in diplomacy has always been taken for granted.
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