The Government of Javier Milei suffered an unexpected and very harsh defeat this Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina.
The opposition's rejection of numerous articles of its megalaw to scrap the State infuriated the ruling party, which chose to adjourn the session and leave the bill frozen until further notice.
“The [provincial] governors made the decision to destroy the “Bases and Points for the Freedom of Argentines Law” article by article, hours after agreeing to accompany it,” the Government wrote in an official statement.
“We are not going to continue arguing with those who demand to maintain their privileges,” he added.
After the legislative setback, Milei chose to further tighten the rope in the polarized Argentine society and stressed that it is a fight of "the caste against the people" in which he is not going to give in.
“We are going to continue with our program with or without the support of the political leadership that destroyed our country,” she warned from Israel, where she is traveling, a stop prior to a visit to Pope Francis in the Vatican.
Milei's strategy is simple: blame opposition politicians, even those who were willing to support him, for not letting him govern.
It is not clear, however, what his plan is for developing the ultraliberal program he wants to carry out if he refuses to negotiate it with Congress.
Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), is in the minority in both parliamentary chambers: it has 38 of 257 deputies and seven of 72 senators.
Its territorial power is even weaker, since it does not control any of the country's 24 provinces.
After renouncing almost half of the 644 articles of the megalaw, the ruling party had achieved its general approval on Friday and the negotiations seemed on track for the approval of a large majority of the points that remained standing.
It was not so.
The inflexible stance of the Executive in recent days regarding the changes requested by some provincial governors led to a rejection of articles much higher than expected and the Government backed down and decided to return the project to discussion in committees.
Although the head of LLA in Congress, Oscar Zago, has shown himself willing to resume the parliamentary debate before the end of the week, there are many doubts that he can carry it out.
Whether due to the dizziness of the moment or due to political inexperience, the opposition deputies learned after the withdrawal that the return to committees means, by regulation, the return to a clean slate: the approval in general is annulled and you have to start all over again. .
Milei relies on the popular support he obtained in the second round of the presidential elections against the Peronist Sergio Massa to justify his refusal to give in on articles such as the delegation of legislative powers, the privatization of public companies and the granting of more funds for the provinces.
“Our government program was voted for by 56% of Argentines and we are not willing to negotiate it with those who destroyed the country,” she warned through social networks.
Surveys show that the image of this 53-year-old economist has worsened in his first two months in office, but it is still high.
Only in three peripheral provinces does the negative image of the Argentine president prevail over the positive one, according to the survey by CB Consultora Opinión Pública published by the Clarín newspaper.
The presidential slogan of “the caste against the people” quickly became a trend on social networks this Tuesday and attacks against opposition politicians proliferated.
The Kirchnerists, on the contrary, celebrated the withdrawal – at least temporarily – of the law.
The news also spread like wildfire through cell phones and reached the doors of Congress, where a group of protesters were protesting against the law.
“And now you see it and now you see it, it is for [the Minister of Security, Patricia] Bullrich who watches it on TV,” they began to sing when they found out that the ruling party had adjourned the session.
This Tuesday's defeat has exposed Milei's legislative fragility, but has also reaffirmed its willingness to clash with anyone who opposes its interests.
One of the possibilities being considered is that the president calls for a popular consultation to validate the legislative project, but this would be non-binding.
“If it is not understood that the president has the vocation to transform reality, they are wrong, he is going to continue doing it.
If he has to resort to popular consultations, he will do it too,” anticipated the Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, one of the most veteran politicians in the Executive.
The warnings are accompanied by a threat: if the law is not approved, the fiscal adjustment will be greater than initially anticipated.
Internal crisis
Milei's star legislative project began to be debated more than two weeks ago in extraordinary sessions called by the Executive in the middle of the southern summer.
The Government's attack against the political class has frayed tempers even among its allies.
This afternoon, the ten governors of the center-right coalition Together for Change were upset by the criticism and claimed to have worked “tirelessly” to achieve the consensus necessary for the approval of the text.
“Then it is not appropriate that they hold us all equally responsible or that they disrespect us by alleging a lack of desire for dialogue and inability on our part,” they said in a statement.
Since his inauguration speech on December 10, Milei insists that there is no alternative to his economic plan, which contemplates a very harsh fiscal adjustment of five points of the Gross Domestic Product, equivalent to about 20 billion dollars.
“There is no money,” she reiterates in speeches and social networks when justifying successive spending cuts.
The last of them has been the increase in the price of public transportation, which during the Government of Peronist Alberto Fernández was hyper-subsidized.
Between the beginning of January and now the price of the minimum bus ticket in Buenos Aires has multiplied by five, from 52 pesos to 270. Converted to dollars - equivalent to 31 cents in the official price - its value is lower than that of transportation in neighboring countries, but it represents a new blow to the pockets of hundreds of thousands of workers who every day move from the periphery to the Argentine capital and see how the country's galloping inflation - 211.4% in 2023 - devours more and more rapidly. their salaries.
If there is no improvement in the short term, it is likely that popular support for Milei will continue to decline.
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