The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, was involved this Saturday in a strong controversy after a salary increase for members of the Executive became known in the midst of the socioeconomic crisis that the country is going through and its adjustment policy for the public coffers. . The controversy has led the president to annul a measure that, he claims, dates back to the Government of Cristina Fernández, according to official sources.
According to decree 206/24, dated February 29, signed by Milei and his chief of staff, Nicolás Posse, all senior executive officials were to receive a salary increase for several items that, in total, would reach 48%. The publication of the decree, which had gone unnoticed, was released this Saturday by Peronist deputy Victoria Tolosa Paz in the context of the recent discussion in Parliament over an increase in legislators’ allowances.
Subsequently, the president used his usual communication channel, social networks, to blame a decree signed in 2010 by the then president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) that forced him to grant “an automatic increase to the political staff of this Government “. “Obviously we are going to repeal that decree and roll back any increase that the political establishment has perceived. In a time of crisis like the current one in which Argentine society is making a heroic effort, politicians have to be the first to step up,” Milei wrote on her X social network account.
However, both Fernández and the former Peronist president Alberto Fernández (2019-2023) jumped into the virtual agora to respond to the leader of La Libertad Avanza (ultra-right), show him both documents – that of the former vice president and the one recently signed by Milei – and ask if he does not sign the documentation that appears with his name.
“Oh President… you want to fight with me so that we don’t talk about the decree you signed giving a 48% increase to you and your officials while destroying the pensions and salaries of Argentines… and Argentine women too. Admit that He signed, got paid and they caught him (…) I want to think that you read what you sign, right? In the January one you did not expressly include the authorities, and in the February one you and your officials were included,” Cristina Fernández replied.
The Argentine Government has settled the controversy by canceling the salary increase. Thus, according to the statement published by the Office of the President on its account on the social network
The text also reported the repeal, through decree 235/2024, of a regulation signed in 2010 by the then president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015), which “linked the increases of national public administration workers to salaries of officials”, a measure that, according to the current Executive, “was designed and executed with the objective of protecting the pockets of the caste.
The official message concluded with the evaluation that the situation in the country is “critical” and the recognition that “Argentines are making a heroic sacrifice”, so “it is time for politicians to pay the cost of the embezzlement that have caused”.
Argentina is going through a severe socioeconomic crisis, with more than 250% inflation, more than half of the population living in poverty.
