Mondino faces virtual paralysis of Argentina’s diplomatic corps

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry runs the risk of remaining virtually paralysed by strike measures adopted by the APSEN union grouping Foreign Service employees.

Unionised staff decided on August 16 to renew protests with daily two-hour stoppages between Monday and Thursday, as had already occurred in the previous week with Foreign Ministry offices remaining vacant as from 5pm.

The stoppage was resolved at a new assembly where over 85 percent voted to prolong the protest measures, although within a “moderate” atmosphere.

At the time, Mondino was in the Dominican Republic to represent Argentina at the inauguration of its re-elected President Luis Abinader.

The dispute comes at a bad time. She is preparing a trip to Brazil early next month where she will join other Mercosur foreign ministers at a summit with European Union authorities to advance in the EU-Mercosur agreement, in which Mondino has a special interest.

For October, the minister is planning to tour India, now the most populous country in the world and increasingly influential in the international context.

But while Mondino ramps up her efforts abroad, the home front presents difficulties, most notably because of the decision by President Javier Milei’s government to restore the fourth category of income tax. This has run into pushback from the diplomats and employees of the Foreign Service, who are seeing the changes hit them in the pockets.

Earlier this month Mondino defended the restoration of the tax in public and placed herself in a bind. The novelty is not income tax (always paid by diplomats) but its extension to “extras” for cost of living, determined via an index of the United Nations.

Argentina’s diplomats must pay out of their own pockets for their rents, cars and their children’s schooling, none of which is covered by the Foreign Service, as is the case in other countries. As a result of this tax measure many postings have become excessively expensive – even for diplomats earning high salaries.

Such postings run the risk of starting to empty with only the ambassador guaranteed a residence. From the chargé d’affaires downwards, all the other diplomatic staff must pay their rent, along with sending their children to international colleges.

That is why Foreign Service employees are warning that many postings will become unviable in coming months, whether they are in the Americas, Europe, Africa or Asia.

Foreign Service employees have been able to discuss their problems face-to-face with Mondino, who showed herself to be “sensitive” to the issue, but for now no modification of the regulations is in sight.

ASPEN has presented an injunction to the administrative litigation court headed by judge Martín Cormick, awaiting acceptance of their claims.