The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, called this Friday on the opposition to sign the ‘May Pact’, a new founding document with 10 state policies.
In the opening speech of the ordinary sessions in the National Congress, the president called on the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to sign this document on May 25, National Day, in the city of Córdoba (center).
However, he explained that he will summon local councilors to the Casa Rosada (seat of Government) “to sign a pre-agreement and sanction both the Bases Law (and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines) and a fiscal relief package for the provinces” to then work “on a common project” and “start a new era of glory” for Argentina.
In the background of this double proposal is the recent fight between the president and the provincial governors due to the fiscal adjustment and the cut of funds that the State must send to the territories, which led to a request for “dialogue” and “respect” on the part of the local councilors in the face of Milei’s frequent outbursts and disqualifying messages towards them.
For the moment, he extended his hand to this dialogue with the call to participate in a joint event on May 25, National Day, in the city of Córdoba (center) to seal the May Pact, which includes some of the measures promoted by the Executive and with which it seeks to deregulate the economy and reduce the presence of the State to a minimum.
Among them, the inviolability of private property; the “non-negotiable” fiscal balance; the reduction of public spending by around 25% of the gross domestic product (GDP); tax reform that reduces tax pressure; the review of the co-participation scheme (State-provinces).
Faced with the possible governance problems that are often talked about when referring to the lack of “parliamentary force” of La Libertad Avanza (LLA, far-right), Milei opposed his “conviction.”
Thus, he stated that his party may “not have the parliamentary strength or governors or mayors, but it knows what it has to do, how to do it and has the conviction to do it.”
LLA is the third parliamentary minority, with 38 deputies and 7 senators, and does not have any governor, which requires agreements to advance legislative projects.
When reviewing some of the achievements of his Executive, in the 82 days of his administration since taking office on December 10, the libertarian highlighted the closure of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (Inadi), which he described of “thought police”, which, he explained, “spent 2.8 billion pesos to maintain rented militants.”
“In this same vein, we are going to close the Télam agency,” the president said without offering more details of the operation.
He also referred to the “immorality” of “spending money to buy the will of journalists” through official advertising in the media, which his Executive has suspended for a year, “in a country where the people are hungry.” “.
Founded in April 1945, the Argentine public news agency Télam was in the sights of libertarians since the electoral campaign, during which several leaders referred to its possible privatization or closure, as with the rest of the media. public.
The session was chaired by the vice president -and also head of the Senate-, Victoria Villarruel, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem; In addition, more than a dozen provincial governors and Milei’s entire cabinet attended, except for the chancellor, Diana Mondino, who was at her son’s wedding, as she herself explained on her social networks.
Milei’s speech was interrupted by numerous shouts and applause from his coreligionists, who also sang at various times “the caste is afraid” and “the caste does not applaud.” And, of course, the president’s motto was not missing, which he stamped in the book of honor of both Chambers and sentenced to end his speech: “Long live Libertad Carajo.”
Social and political organizations opposed to the adjustment advocated by Milei mixed in the street, waiting for him with a big pot, with many of his followers, who greeted with applause the leader who on Friday surprised with his proposal to refound Argentina.
