PTS, Monday April 16, 2012

Following President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s announcement of a draft bill to the Congress to take control of 51 per cent of the Repsol-YPF oil and gas company, Christian Castillo, member of the national leadership of the PTS (Partido de Trabajadores Socialistas) and former candidate for the vice-presidency for the Left and Workers’ Front, said: “It’s not right that, after it has looted the country’s resources for years, Repsol-YPF should be handed reserves from the Central Bank or money that belongs to the pensioners – especially when 80 per cent of them only receive the minimum pension. We in the PTS say that the entire Repsol-YPF company should be expropriated without compensation and managed by its workers. Since taking control of the company, Repsol has transferred almost US$14 billion out of Argentina and used it to expand its business in other countries, while putting to one side the search for new oil reserves, a key activity in order to maintain stocks. After buying YPF, Repsol’s net profit reached a staggering US$ 8 billion. For nine years the Kirchner governments have actively collaborated with the privatisation of YPF and been accomplices to the looting carried out by Repsol and other multinationals. They have also given the green light for the Ezkenazy family (owners of the Petersen Group) to keep a 25.46 per cent stake in YPF without paying a single penny, with the argument that they had already made sufficient investment in the company.

We reject all the threats made by the imperialist Spanish government and its partners in the European Union. At the same time we condemn the fact that the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is not only prepared to compensate Repsol but is seeking partnerships with other multinational companies – following the Petrobras model in Brazil – which would leave a large chunk of the profits from the gas and oil industry in the hands of new looters.”

Press Office of the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (Socialist Workers’ Party), part of the Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores (Left and Workers’ Front), Argentina.