The new provisional president of the Senate, Bartolomé Abdala, was optimistic about the future support of the rest of the body to the bills that the Executive Branch sends to Congress because, he said, he considers it "implausible" that "things that are good for Argentina will be rejected by politicking."
Abdala was elected last week to his post after the initial appointee, Francisco Paoltroni, from Formosa, was sidelined in the midst of an internal dispute between the Peronists of his province, Cristina Kirchner, Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel. This Sunday he spoke with Radio Rivadavia and assured that in La Libertad Avanza they are "open to listening."
"We are open to listening. We know that it is going to be dealt with law by law and we are going to try to persuade each of the congressmen from the entire democratic plural arc that is in the Senate," he said.
In the same vein, he said that he believes that "all good Argentines" will accompany them. "It seems implausible to me to think that those things that are good for Argentina will be rejected by politicking. That's what needs to be stopped," he stressed.
Abdala said that all those projects that "are normal, that tend to improve the lives of Argentines" will have "the accompaniment of many actors."
Abdala: "Sacrifice has to be made by all politics"
Abdala also referred to the Milei government's proposed cuts to public spending, which is commonly referred to as "political spending."
"Javier has already asked the governors to make the corresponding adjustment," the senator revealed, adding that "the effort, the sacrifice has to be made by all politics."
"We come from the private sector, we didn't come enjoying the historical privileges that perhaps different legislators who have been here for a long time have been enjoying," he said by way of criticism during the radio interview.
He insisted that the project of La Libertad Avanza is "to try to put an end to those privileges that are exorbitant that the political class enjoys and have no sense or reason to exist based on our work as legislators."
Asked about how the negotiation with senators and governors will be on issues related to co-participation, Abdala said that he has "an arduous task of convincing" ahead of him. "Above all, to make them understand that the measures taken to achieve fiscal balance are basic for the country to start growing," he added.
"We are confident in the intelligent reasoning of both legislators and governors to understand that Argentina cannot continue with a deficit," he said.
Who is Bartolomé Abdala, the new provisional president of the Senate?
Abdala, who was elected in October's general election, is a public accountant by trade, but has been part of the political system for years.
Between 2008 and 2009, he headed the Ministry of Tourism of San Luis, during the government of Alberto Rodriguez Saá. However, Abdullah had to resign when the provincial governor reshuffled his cabinet.
He was also a provincial deputy and president of the PRO of San Luis, but in 2019 he lost the internal election of Juntos por el Cambio with Alejandro Cacace for the category of national deputy.
And two years later, in 2021, Abdala came out at the crossroads of the national leadership of the PRO, at that time in charge of Patricia Bullrich, who ordered the party to intervene and appointed Esteban Garrido as head of the space.
The differences with the now Minister of Security arose from Bullrich's decision to support Claudio Poggi, at that time a national senator, as a candidate to head the list of national deputies.
Thus, the now provisional president of the Senate left the PRO with a strong criticism of Bullrich's leadership and closed the agreement with Milei, when the economist moved forward with his project to build La Libertad Avanza
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