Argentine president achieved his first victory in Congress, but must show results

The Argentine president, Javier Milei, achieved his first legislative victory after six months of government on Thursday with the approval of the “most ambitious reform in the last 40 years.” Now, he must show economic results to an impatient society.

The so-called “Bases law” barely passed the Senate filter after a marathon session and has yet to be definitively sanctioned by the lower house. In January, a version of the same law that had about 600 articles compared to the current one’s more than 200, had failed.

The negotiated and reduced reform includes privatizations of public companies, tax modifications, economic deregulations, the delegation of special powers to the Executive and a special regime for large investments.

“It is the most important moment since Milei has been president,” political analyst Gustavo Córdoba told AFP. “He found a virtuous circle of power building that gave him a result,” he added.

This shows that the veroborrhagic president, who has insulted Congress and its members by calling them a “rat’s nest,” or responded to their decisions by saying that he doesn’t give a “damn a damn,” is beginning to “delegate the negotiation to political specialists,” he explained. Cordova.

In line with this, the historian and political analyst Rosendo Fraga maintained in radio statements that “the government went ‘all or nothing’ and that explains why it will accept a law that falls short of its objectives.”

Córdoba stressed that from the legislative victory “mileism was born,” with a government that did “everything it had to do to approve the law.”

Impatient citizens
On the other hand, the opposition is not consolidated and is rather heterogeneous. “The opposition was not up to the task of building power that the government made, and attended the session in an improvised manner,” Córdoba noted.

The Senate vote took place in a context of recession in which industrial activity and consumption have plummeted, half of the population is in poverty, thousands have been laid off, and salaries and pensions have lost purchasing power in the face of high inflation.

The government can show achievements on that front: inflation continued to moderate in May, to 4.2% monthly, the lowest in two and a half years, but in 12 months it continues to be close to 280%. In the fiscal section, the deficit in public accounts is also being contained.

But society is impatient. The debate on the law was framed by riots in front of Congress that left around twenty people injured and detained, as well as burning cars.

Milei proclaimed on repeated occasions that the law is key to the country’s economic takeoff. With the approval, that discursive tool disappeared.

“People are going to say ‘well, you already have the necessary tools’, so the time it takes to show results is going to be billed against them,” said Córdoba.

According to several surveys, Milei still retains close to 50% support among the population.

For political scientist Iván Schuliaquer, “what many people still associate with Milei is hope, the possibility of a future where that promise is fulfilled that after the adjustment there will be growth that many actors question.” Source: AFP

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