Argentine President Javier Milei shakes his fist on March 1, 2024 during his first State of the Nation speech in Buenos Aires (AFP/JUAN MABROMATA)
Argentina’s ultraliberal President Javier Milei said Friday, in his first speech on the State of the Nation, that he was determined to push his reforms “with or without political support”, warning the hitherto reluctant Parliament that he is ready “for conflict”.
At the same time, he called on Argentines to show “patience and confidence” in the face of his deregulation and budgetary austerity measures.
“It still takes time before we can reap the fruits of economic consolidation and reforms (…) but for the first time in history, we are attacking the problem by its cause. For this I ask you for patience and confidence,” he said.
“The effort will be worth it” assured them Mr. Milei, whose government in less than three months carried out a devaluation of more than 50%, liberalization of prices, broad deregulation and drastic budget cuts.
Offensive, he warned the parliamentarians who, in February, inflicted his first setback by revoking his ambitious set of deregulatory reforms (660 provisions). “We will change the country for good (…) with or without the support of political leaders, with all the legal resources of the executive.”
He reminded the deputies that in recent weeks he had been calling “rats’ nest”, “corrupt”, “symbols of political caste”, that by decree, regulatory changes, or draft laws, he has tools of ” fight against the budget deficit, which is the mother of battles for us.
“If you seek conflict, you will have conflict,” he threatened.
General view of the Argentine Parliament on March 1, 2024 in Buenos Aires (AFP/JUAN MABROMATA)
However, the Head of State extended a hand to the political class, to influential provincial governors, party leaders, ex-presidents, to forge a “new social contract”, on the basis of ten eminently liberal principles: balance “non-negotiable” budget, “inviolable” private property, public spending reduced to the “historic” level of 25% of GDP, in particular.
– “Meat on the grill” –
A “May Pact”, as he called it, which would be signed in Cordoba (north) symbolically on May 25, the anniversary of the revolution (1810) which led to independence (1816).
Mr. Milei, transgressive as he likes to present himself, had scheduled his speech at prime time, 9:00 p.m., so that “as many Argentines as possible can listen to the president after work”, according to the presidency.
He took a long inventory of 20 years of “impoverishing” government policy, calling it “morally bankrupt and intrinsically unjust” which only benefited a “political caste.”
Argentine President Javier Milei delivers his first State of the Nation speech in Buenos Aires March 1, 2024 (AFP/JUAN MABROMATA)
He also announced a draft “anti-caste law”, with various proposals, including a limit on the mandates of union leaders, the reduction in the number of parliamentary assistants, and the end of benefits for ex-presidents.
He also announced the closure of the public press agency Telam (around 700 employees), one of the media which was in the sights of the new government, which according to him had become a “propaganda agency” of the Peronist governments.
An offensive speech “which put all the meat on the grill”, welcomed the pro-Milei deputy Jose Luis Espert to AFP.
On the contrary, left-wing MP Myriam Bregman denounced “a smokescreen to avoid talking about what we are experiencing, crazy prices, lack of food in soup kitchens, rising rents”.
“It turns my stomach. What is happening is an extermination of the poor,” enraged Elba Sarmiento, a 37-year-old craftswoman, among a few hundred demonstrators on Parliament Square.
Mr. Milei “has this tone of confrontation, of ‘all or nothing’ radicalized to support his narrative, which is ‘we are making structural changes'”, political scientist Ivan Schuliaquer analyzed for AFP.
The president, who is trumpeting initial results – monthly budget surplus in January, unprecedented in 12 years – feels for the moment reassured by the polls. Despite the shock of purchasing power, the positive image remains around 50%, not far from its score in the presidential election (56%).
In terms of the economy “+ something had to be done+, or ‘we have to accept and hold on’, that’s what the majority of Milei voters say in our surveys”, assures AFP pollster Raul Timmerman. The others, those who voted against him, “say ‘it could explode at any moment'”.
© 2024 AFP
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